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THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


A MYSTERY STORY FOR GIRLS 



"Admibing my pagoda? 0 -Page 30 

















00-00-00000-0-0-00-00000-0-0000-00-000-0-0-00-0-00000-0-0-00-0 


THE 

CHINESE RIDDLE 


A Mystery Story for Girls 


BY 

NINA BROWN BAKER ‘ 

AUTHOR OF “THE SECRET OF HALLAM HOUSE 


99 


ILLUSTRATED BY 

J. CLEMENS GRETTA 



) ) ' 


BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 




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Copyright, 1932, 

By LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.' 


All rights reserved 


THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


PRINTED IN U.S.A. 


SEP 


G 


iS32 




O' 

©CIA 54854 






For 

My Mother 



CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I 

The Coming of the Bbonsons 


PASS 

11 

II 

The Chinese Pagoda . 

• 


24 

III 

A Strange Story . 

• 


36 

IV 

The Tattooed Sailor . 

• 


49 

V 

Gone ! 

• 


65 

VI 

The Keepers of the Wall . 


72 

VII 

The Chinese Riddle 

• 


84 

VIII 

Huns and Tartars 

• 


95 

IX 

The Sailor’s Return . 

• 


103 

X 

The Mystery Deepens . 

• 


112 

XI 

A Queer Goldilocks 

• 


120 

XII 

Sailor Jim Is Displeased 

• 


128 

XIII 

Is It Likely? 

• 


138 

XIV 

A Splendid Dream 

• 


145 

XV 

The Eye of the Uninstructed 


157 

XVI 

Disturbing News . 

• 


164 

XVII 

The Riddle Is Read . 

• 


170 

XVIII 

The Secret Shrine 

• 


181 

XIX 

The Dragon Strikes . 

• 


186 

XX 

Strange Are the Ways of 

Heaven 

193 

XXI 

“ All for One ” and — 

• 


205 

XXII 

“ One for All ! ” . 

• 


215 


7 



THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


CHAPTER I 

THE COMING OF THE BRONSONS 

“ This is your room, Mrs. Bronson. And 
the girls’ is here; see, there’s a connecting door. 
I hope you’ll find everything all right.” 

Tall, slender Ruth Curtis hovered rather 
anxiously in the doorway. 

“ I’m sure we shall, my dear,” Mrs. Bronson 
answered briskly. “ It was the greatest relief 
when Judge Doyle told me you’d be willing to 
take us in. The hotel’s impossible, and I really 
don’t know where else we could have gone.” 

“ Oh, but we’re glad to have you,” Ruth an¬ 
swered with shy earnestness. “ You see, we — 
well, we really need the money, Mrs. Bronson. 
Granther’s practice isn’t what it used to be. 
Most of the people here go up to the city to a 
specialist when they’re really ill, and the poor 
patients can’t afford to pay much. So I told 
Judge Doyle it would help if we could find 

u 


12 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

some nice paying guests, and I was glad when 
he sent you to us. I do hope we can make you 
comfortable.” 

“ I’m sure you will,” Mrs. Bronson replied 
cheerfully. “ We’re not hard to please, are we, 
girls? Why, where did they go? ” 

44 Their window opens on to a little balcony; 
I think they’re out there,” Ruth answered. 44 1 
must go down and see about supper now; it’ll be 
in about half an hour, if you’re ready then.” 

With her shy smile, she vanished through the 
doorway. 

Mrs. Bronson strolled over to the old- 
fashioned walnut dresser and took off her tight 
little hat. The big, shabbily furnished room 
pleased her. With a smile, she recalled that 
it had been ten years since she had slept in a 
bedroom. City rents and her limited budget 
had made a kitchenette apartment inevitable; 
her two daughters had grown up with the idea 
that beds normally disappear into walls. Life 
in this spacious old house would be a distinct 
change for them; a pleasant one, she hoped. 

She passed through into the second bedroom. 
It was smaller than the first, though still un¬ 
believably roomy. Gay patchwork quilts cov- 


COMING OF THE BRONSONS 13 

ered the two white iron beds; the floor was car¬ 
peted with smooth, sweet-smelling grass mat¬ 
ting. Dresser and washstand had been painted 
white, and there were two or three wicker 
rocking-chairs with faded cretonne cushions. 
The ruffled dimity curtains at the long windows 
were snowy white and carefully darned. It 
was not an artistic room by any standards; yet 
it had- a homey, friendly look that breathed of 
welcome. 

From outside the window excited voices 
hailed her. 

“ Come and see, Mums — it’s Juliet’s own 
balcony! There’s even a vine for Romeo to 
climb.” 

The window framed a charming picture. 

Barbara Bronson, a sturdy lass of fourteen, 
could have served as a model for the Athletic 
Girl. Her shining brown hair was brushed 
smoothly back from a face glowing with healthy 
tan. Her gray eyes, steady and fearless, were 
shaded by long dark lashes tipped with gold. 
It was a joy to watch her move, for every step 
and gesture showed the perfect poise of well- 
trained muscles. 

Sixteen-year-old Molly was taller, with a 


14 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

willowy slenderness, her dreamy dark eyes look¬ 
ing out from a mist of hair like crinkled black 
silk. Molly’s beauty, though always rather 
startling to strangers, was accepted in a per¬ 
fectly matter-of-fact way by the entire family, 
including herself. Molly knew she was pretty, 
and was glad of it, but she gave herself no airs 
on that account. 

Babs was happiest in sports clothes; Molly 
adored ruffles and frills. Barbara rejoiced in 
strenuous games, while Molly’s idea of perfect 
bliss consisted of soft cushions and a good book. 
There was almost no way in which the two sis¬ 
ters did not differ; yet they w r ere the best of 
pals, and they united in deep devotion to their 
clever, practical mother. 

Mrs. Bronson stepped through the window 
and admired the twisted old trumpet-vine which 
encircled the balcony rail. 

“ There’s a nice view of the town from here, 
too,” she observed. “ Not the business part, 
but the homes; see the shingled rooftops through 
the trees? Main Street must be in the other 
direction. How about it, girls? Are we go¬ 
ing to be happy in Pleasant Hill? ” 

“ Of course we are! ” Babs threw an arm 


COMING OF THE BRONSONS IS 


about her mother’s waist. “ Wait till you get 
the shop going and all the ladies come flocking 
in to buy your up-to-the-minute styles. After 
a while, when you’ve sold oodles of dresses and 
made heaps of money, we’ll get us one of those 
cunning little white cottages all smothered in 
climbing roses and settle down to be leading 
citizens. It’ll be ever so much better than liv¬ 
ing in that stuffy apartment and your working 
your head off for Madame Elise, the cross old 
thing! Just think of having your own shop 
here and being the boss.” 

“ I am thinking of it.” The mother smoth¬ 
ered a sigh. It had not been easy, this decision 
to branch out for herself. She had gone to 
work for Madame Elise when poor Phil died, 
ten years ago. She’d been glad enough to get 
a job as saleswoman then, and she’d worked her 
way up to be manager. The sharp-tongued 
Frenchwoman had taught her the business very 
thoroughly and had paid her well. Perhaps 
she should have stayed on, not risking this un¬ 
known venture. But the girls were in high 
school now, with college soon to think about— 
she had to have more money. 

A dress manufacturer she knew had told her 


16 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

of this opportunity. Pleasant Hill was a 
flourishing town of twenty thousand, without a 
really good ready-to-wear shop in the place. 
Rents were low, and the manufacturer offered 
her liberal credit. Her savings would get her 
started; she could build up her own business 
and be independent. It seemed a wonderful 
chance, and she had taken it. 

She had made a flying visit to Pleasant Hill 
a few weeks before and found just the right 
location on Main Street. Judge Doyle, the 
owner, had undertaken to see to the painting and 
installation of fixtures, while she returned to the 
city to select her stock. The Judge had sug¬ 
gested that she and the girls would prefer board¬ 
ing in a private family, and had made the ar¬ 
rangements with Ruth Curtis. And here they 
were! 

“ Now don’t let the corners of the mouth 
droop, Mums,” Barbara admonished her. 
rr Were not weakening, are we, Sis? Every¬ 
thing’s going to be lovely, you’ll see. Has any¬ 
body heard any rumors as to when, or whether, 
we eat? ” 

The deep-toned note of a mellow Chinese 
gong answered her before she finished. The 


COMING OF THE BRONSONS 17 

girls made a rush for the old-fashioned wash- 
stand and in a few minutes were standing with 
their mother at the head of the broad curving 
staircase. 

“ Who’s in the family, anyway? ” Babs whis¬ 
pered to her sister as they descended. 

“ I think just that cute-looking girl we saw 
and her grandfather, the doctor,” Molly an¬ 
swered. “ Sh — there they are.” 

Dr. Fleming Curtis — affectionately called 
“ the old Doctor ” by the whole town — had 
been a handsome, commanding gentleman once. 
Now his broad shoulders were stooped, and his 
hands twisted and gnarled by rheumatism. He 
leaned heavily on his cane, but his silvery hair 
was thick and shining, and his sea-blue eyes 
were very gentle. 

The old gentleman greeted the newcomers 
with stately courtesy, and they passed into the 
dining-room. 

Molly and Barbara glanced about them with 
frank curiosity as they followed their mother 
and the Doctor. 

The stairway ended in a square hall with 
three doors. One of these was the front door 
to the house. The one on the left was open, 


18 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

showing an old-fashioned parlor, very stiff and 
prim with its flowered Brussels carpet and 
gilded furniture upholstered in faded red satin. 
This room, as the girls were to learn, was seldom 
used. Behind it lay the “ back parlor,” now a 
more modern living-room, arranged according 
to Ruth’s taste. 

Across the hall was the dining-room, spacious 
and furnished in rather hideous red mahogany. 
Corresponding to the back parlor on this side 
of the house was a smaller room which the Doc¬ 
tor used as his study. Another door from the 
dining-room led to the serving-pantry and 
kitchen beyond. 

“ You could get four perfectly good apart¬ 
ments like ours on this floor alone,” Babs whis¬ 
pered in awed tones to her sister. “ If you ask 
me, the way they’ve wasted space around here 
is simply appalling! ” 

“ Well, I guess they had plenty to spare,” 
Molly whispered back. “ Did you notice the 
yard? A whole block to one house; it’s like 
living in the middle of a park! ” 

The table was attractively laid with queer 
blue china and thin old silver, brightened by a 
great bowl of vivid nasturtiums. 


COMING OF THE BRONSONS 19 

By the pantry door, his head bowed, his hands 
hidden in the sleeves of his spotless white jacket, 
stood an elderly Chinese. 

“ This is Wang, who looks after our sim¬ 
ple wants, Mrs. Bronson,” Dr. Curtis said. 
“ Wang, these ladies are the guests we told you 
about.” 

Wang raised his head and swept the new¬ 
comers with a long, slow glance from inscru¬ 
table black eyes. His face had no more ex¬ 
pression than one carved from wood. Then he 
bowed deeply and spoke in a curiously soft, 
singsong voice. 

“ It is a happiness to these eyes to behold the 
friends of the household.” 

“ Well, we’re glad to see you, too, Wang,” 
Mrs. Bronson answered kindly. “ We’ll try 
not to make a great deal of trouble for you.” 

They took their seats, and the simple, at¬ 
tractive meal began. Wang served silently 
and efficiently, then retired to the kitchen. 

While her mother chatted to the old Doctor, 
Barbara shyly studied Ruth, who sat next to 
her. What was the new girl like ? Would she 
prove a friend who would help them over the 
first loneliness in a strange town? These were 


20 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

important questions to Babs, and she was im¬ 
patient to know the answers. 

Ruth Curtis was about Molly’s age, a little 
past sixteen. Her hair, a rich, warm chestnut- 
brown, was perfectly straight, and she wore it 
in a heavy coronet braid wound close about her 
small head. Her eyes, the exact shade of her 
hair, were wide and serious. It was a serious, 
responsible sort of face, anyway, Babs decided. 
Intellectual, probably. A little frown creased 
Barbara’s forehead. She was not especially 
fond of intellectual girls. They were always 
thinking about improving their minds and 
never wanted to have any fun. It would be 
disappointing if Ruth proved to be that sort! 

Even as the thought formed itself, Ruth 
turned to her and smiled. And that smile, 
warm and friendly, lighted her face like a lamp. 

“ I’m so glad to have some girls in the house 
— it’s lonely here with just Granther and me. 
You and your sister will be going to our high 
school this fall, won’t you? ” 

“ Yes; tell me about it,” Barbara answered 
eagerly. “We passed the building coming out, 
I think — a beautiful place, and so big! ” 

“ It’s a county school; that’s why it has to be 


COMING OF THE BRONSONS 21 

big,” Ruth explained. “ The farm boys and 
girls come in busses. This building was new 
last year, and we’re very proud of it. We have 
a big gym and a splendid swimming-pool — all 
the modern improvements.” 

“ Oh, that’s grand! Tell me some more. Is 
there a basketball team? I’m supposed to be 
rather good at basketball.” 

“ Really? Well, that’s good news. Our star 
forward graduated last year, and the whole 
team has to be built over. The girls will be 
glad you’ve come. Does your sister play, too ? ” 

“ Mercy, no! ” Babs chuckled. “ Molly sings 
and writes poetry and does aesthetic dances. 
She’s the artistic one, you see.” 

“Oh! Well, that’s nice, too. We have a 
dramatic club and a girls’ chorus — ” Ruth 
smiled across the table at lovely Molly, who had 
caught her last words and now said eagerly, 
“ Tell me about the dramatic club! Do they 
do musical comedies? I’ve always been wild 
for a chance in one.” 

The three girls chatted so absorbedly then 
that they were surprised when Dr. Curtis and 
their mother rose from the table. 

“ Dr. Curtis tells me our trunks have come, 


22 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


girls,” Mrs. Bronson observed. “ If you aren’t 
too tired, how about doing our unpacking be¬ 
fore bedtime? I’ll need you to help me at the 
shop to-morrow, getting ready for the opening, 
so if we can get this out of the way first — ” 

“ All right, Mums, we’ll be right along,” Bar¬ 
bara answered promptly. But she turned back 
for a last word with Ruth. 

“ You say the school swimming-pool is open 
all summer? I think that’s glorious. Mums 
won’t want us at the shop after the first few 
days — if you’ll take us over then — ” 

“ Of course I will,” Ruth answered. “ Lots 
of the girls are out of town for the summer, but 
you’ll meet all the others there, and I know 
you’ll like them. We really have such good 
times. But you’ll see.” 

Molly smiled her slow, lovely smile. “ It’s 
nice of you, Ruth — you don’t mind if I call you 
Ruth right off? You are nice to think about 
introducing us to your friends and making us 
feel at home so quickly.” 

“ Just what I was going to say,” Babs put in. 
“ You know, Ruth — I can say Ruth, too? — 
I was a little afraid at first you were going to 
turn out a highbrow. You know, with a soul 


COMING OF THE BRONSONS 23 

above basketball and swimming and such. 
Really, you’ve no idea what a load you’ve lifted 
off my mind.” 

Ruth laughed. “ And I was afraid you two 
were going to be superior because you’re from 
the city. So you’ve taken a load off my mind, 
too.” 

“ It comes out even, then,” Barbara said 
cheerfully. “ All right, Mumsy, we’re coming. 
Night, Ruthie — see you in the morning! ” 


CHAPTER II 

THE CHINESE PAGODA 

The sisters wakened early to a flood of pale 
sunlight, and a chorus of bird-song. As Bar¬ 
bara sleepily opened her eyes, they met the 
sparkling dark ones of her sister in the next bed. 

“ Listen to that, Babs,” Molly commanded. 
“ Did you ever hear anything like that ex¬ 
quisite high note, over and over? What sort of 
bird is it, do you know? ” 

“ Haven’t the faintest. Sounds a little dif¬ 
ferent from the elevated, and the milkman rat¬ 
tling his bottles, and all the other wake-up 
noises I’m used to, though. Is it time to get 
up? 

Molly glanced at the little clock beside her. 
“Not for ages; it’s only five thirty. Mums 
said seven. We mustn’t wake her — she’s in 
for a hard day, poor dear.” 

“ Well, I’m wide-awake now.” Barbara 


24 


THE CHINESE PAGODA 25 

stretched luxuriously and glanced about her. 
“ Cunning room, Sis. I can’t get over the size 
of everything! We could give a dance up here. 
Or shoot deer, maybe.” 

“ Silly! ” Molly laughed, then whisked out 
of bed and softly closed the door to their moth¬ 
er’s room. “ Now we can talk,” she added, as 
she settled herself cosily against the pillows. 
“Do you think you’re going to like it here, 
Babs? Seriously? ” 

“ Oh, I know I am! Of course everything’s 
as different as can be, but, when we once get 
used to it, I don’t believe we’ll ever want to go 
back.” 

“ That’s the way I feel, too. Ruth’s a dar¬ 
ling, isn’t she? I wish I could take her down to 
Mumsy’s shop and dress her, though. I don’t 
believe she has the least idea about choosing 
colors to go with that glorious hair of hers.” 

“ You mean that sort of greeny-yellowy 
dress she wore last night? ” Babs asked inter¬ 
estedly. “ She never chose that color, Sis. 
It’s what the dress faded to. You can’t trust 
green in cheap materials. There’s no telling 
just what shade it will turn.” 

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Molly exclaimed con- 


26 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

tritely. “ It sounds catty, talking her over like 
this, and I don’t mean to be. I like her a lot, 
and I was just thinking how really lovely she’d 
be in the right things. I’d forgotten — of 
course I knew, too. Judge Doyle told Mums 
that Dr. Curtis wasn’t very well off. And it 
takes money to dress to suit one’s type.” 

“ Money — or a mother in the business,” 
Barbara answered shrewdly. “ You and I do 
pretty well at it, darling, but only because we 
have chances that every one doesn’t get. So be¬ 
fore we start criticizing our friends — ” 

“ Oh, don’t be so righteous! ” Molly inter¬ 
rupted. “ Who’s criticizing, anyway? Ruth’s 
a darling, whatever she wxars, and all I said 
was — but why go over that again? It seems 
funny,” she went on, “ if Ruth and the Doctor 
are so hard up, that they keep a servant.” 

“ Yes, doesn’t it? Maybe Wang doesn’t 
charge much. I’ve always heard that China¬ 
men can live on almost nothing. He’s an odd¬ 
looking creature, isn’t he? ” 

“ He gives me the creeps! ” Molly shivered 
dramatically. “ I never knew a human being 
could be so silent. You couldn’t hear him 
move around the table, and he kept watching us 




THE CHINESE PAGODA 27 

with those queer black eyes — I tell you, there’s 
something sinister about Wang! ” 

Babs laughed delightedly. “ Ever since you 
read those Fu-Manchu stories, you’ve been 
looking for a sinister Chinaman. Own up, 
now; you’re just thrilled to death at the chance 
to live in the same house with one.” 

Molly’s smile was reluctant. “ Well, this 
is the first time I’ve ever had anything to do 
with a Chinese, and you do read such weird 
things about them. I’m not a bit sure I’m go¬ 
ing to feel comfy with Wang around.” 

“ Oh, don’t be silly! ” Barbara answered im¬ 
patiently. “ He’s not going to bother us, even 
if he is a Sax Rohmer villain. What do you 
say we get up? There ought to be a beautiful 
sunrise from our Juliet balcony.” 

In pyjamas and bare feet the two girls 
perched on the balcony railing. Their room 
was at the rear of the house, looking south, and 
would have afforded a splendid view of the sun¬ 
rise except that that event was long since over. 
But there were some gorgeous rose and gold 
clouds to watch, the song of the birds to listen 
to, and a sweet flower-scented breeze to sniff. 

The Curtis house, a square brick building of 



28 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

an older day, stood alone upon a small hill. 
The town had grown in the opposite direction, 
and the only neighboring structures were a few 
scattered big houses of the same period, each in 
its spacious grounds. Little traffic passed 
through sleepy, unpaved Catalpa Street, with 
its great trees meeting to form a cool green 
tunnel. Pleasant Hill’s business district was 
proudly up-to-date, and there were some im¬ 
pressive modern residences surrounding the 
country club, but Catalpa Street was much as 
it had been when the town was a straggling 
country village. 

Presently Molly noticed her sister craning her 
neck to look down in the wide back yard below 
them. 

“ What is that thing out there — no, over 
toward the back fence? You can just see a 
corner of it when the wind bends the apple-tree 
branches back. Bright green and rose — there, 
see? ” 

Molly leaned far over the rail. Just then a 
puff of summer breeze parted the leaves of the 
old apple tree, and she caught a fleeting glimpse 
that made her clap her hands. 

“ Oh, how adorable! It’s a pagoda, honey. 


THE CHINESE PAGODA 29 

Don’t you know, we’ve seen models of them 
in the museum at home? But how in the 
world — ” 

Babs swung one leg over the railing. “ Let’s 
go see. Of course we can shin down the 
trumpet-vine; it’s as easy as a stairway. Oh, 
come on, Sis, don’t be a ’fraidy-cat.” 

Molly hesitated. 44 But we’re not dressed.” 

44 Who cares? The nearest house is across 
the street, and they can’t see into our back yard. 
Nobody’s up around here, and I’ve always 
wanted to walk barefoot in the dew. So come 
on.” 

She swung herself down the twisted old vine 
with easy grace, and Molly followed her a little 
more timidly. The descent was safe enough, 
and in a few seconds the two sisters were scurry¬ 
ing hand-in-hand over the long grass, drenched 
in silvery dew. 

The curious little building was larger than 
it had appeared from the upstairs window. Its 
base was an eight-foot square, and the peak of 
the second smaller roof must have risen a good 
twelve feet from the ground. There was a 
wider roof below, giving the effect of two stories 
from the outside, both roofs gracefully out- 


30 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


curving and painted a vivid green. The pa¬ 
goda was made of wood, brilliantly painted. 
The walls were deep rose, and the supporting 
pillars at each corner were bright yellow. The 
two windows were protected by sturdy yellow 
shutters, now closed. The one yellow door was 
closed also, and fastened with a strong-looking 
padlock. 

With its fresh paint glistening in the morning 
sun, the little house was wholly quaint and 
charming. The Bronson sisters were standing 
completely lost in admiration when a gay voice 
startled them. 

“ Admiring my pagoda ? I didn’t know any- 
body but me got up this early.” 

Ruth had come up behind them. She, too, 
was wearing pyjamas, but, as the girls noted 
swiftly, hers were “ real ” — real Chinese, of 
dull blue cotton crepe,'perfectly plain except 
for the black cord frogs which fastened them 
high at the throat. On her feet were rope-soled 
Chinese slippers. Her long hair hung in a 
heavy rope far below her waist, its silken sheen 
turned to burnished copper by the morning sun. 

“ Oh, hello, Ruth — is this really yours?” 
Barbara greeted her eagerly. “We saw it 


THE CHINESE PAGODA 31 

from the balcony and came down to get a good 
look. It’s darling, but what’s it for? ” 

“ Why, it was a playhouse when I was little,” 
Ruth explained. “ We use it as a sort of 
summer-house now — it’s a delightful place to 
read on a hot day. And I come down here 
every morning to do my upsets, so’s not to dis¬ 
turb Granther.” 

She was fitting a key in the lock as she spoke, 
and now she threw the door wide open. 

The first impression was wholly Chinese. 
The wall opposite the door, which had no win¬ 
dow, was completely covered with Chinese 
writing, done in bright red brush-strokes on 
the light unvarnished pine. There were four 
of these vertical columns, with narrow plain 
spaces between. 

Each of the side walls held a window, and 
beneath the eastern one was a long, low chest of 
carved teakwood. Heaped on this chest and 
spilling on to the floor were pillows, covered in 
bright cotton with fantastic landscape designs. 
Under the opposite window stood a little bam¬ 
boo table with a tea-set and copper kettle on a 
tray. A short-legged red lacquer tea-table 
was folded against the painted wall. The floor 


I 


32 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

was covered in grass matting, woven in red and 
white diamond shapes. Red shelves on each 
side of the door held books and a small portable 
phonograph. 

The ceiling had a domed effect, for the lower 
roof visible from the outside did not extend 
through. The supporting beams and timbers 
had been carved and painted red and black, and 
from one of them swung a curious little oil lamp 
of pierced brass. 

Ruth was plainly pleased as the girls looked 
about them with exclamations of delight. She 
threw the shutters wide to the sweet morning 
air and motioned them to sit on the cushioned 
chest, which served as a window-seat. 

44 I’m so glad you like it! Wang built it 
for me when I was quite tiny — about three, I 
think. He did it every bit himself, even the 
carving. And he paints it every year, inside 
and out — it’s the joy of his life, I think, to 
keep it all bright and shining. Well, now for 
the upsets. Will you girls lounge at your ease 
and look on, or will you join me? ” 

44 1 don’t think I know — ” Molly began 
doubtfully, but Babs laughed. 

44 Upsets — setting-up exercises, of course! 


THE CHINESE PAGODA 33 

I’ll join you, Ruth. We used to do them at 
camp, but I never can remember to keep it up 
by myself.” 

Ruth wound the small phonograph, and gay 
strains filled the little room: 

“ You’ve got to bend down, sister, 

Bend down, sister! 

If you want to keep thin! ” 

Ruth planted herself in the middle of the 
floor and began a vigorous bending and stretch¬ 
ing exercise. Barbara followed her every move 
with quick adaptability, and after a moment of 
fascinated watching Molly caught the fever 
and joined in. Ten minutes later, rosy and 
glowing and somewhat out of breath, the three 
girls cast themselves down upon the chest. 

“ That was fun! ” Molly exclaimed. “ Do 
you do it every day, Ruth ? I’m going to, too! ” 

“ Night and morning,” Ruth nodded. “ It’ll 
be great, having company for it. And of 
course you girls must use the pagoda any time 
you want to, whether I’m here or not. I keep 
it locked at night because of tramps, but it’s 
open all day, and the key is always hanging by 
the kitchen sink if you want it. Just make 


34 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

yourselves at home in here any time.” She 
glanced at her wrist-watch. “ Oh, it’s almost 
seven — I must run. I’m helping Wang get 
breakfast, and I don’t want your mother to be 
late because of me.” 

“ We must hurry, too, and get dressed,” 
Molly observed. “ We’re going down with 
Mums and help her unpack and get the shop 
ready. She hopes to open for business to¬ 
morrow.” 

“ How interesting! ” Ruth led the way to¬ 
ward the house. “ Will you girls help her in 
the shop? ” 

“ Only till she gets things going. She’s en¬ 
gaged an alteration woman here in town, and 
she doesn’t expect to need any one besides her¬ 
self to wait on trade at first. Afterward she 
plans to hire regular saleswomen — we’ll be in 
school then, of course. We’ll help out, though, 
any time she needs us.” 

“ I should think it would be a delightful busi¬ 
ness, working with pretty dresses all the time,” 
Ruth said. 

Molly sighed a little. “ It will be, if only 
people come to buy them. Do you think moth¬ 
er’s shop will go well in this town, Ruth? ” 


THE CHINESE PAGODA 35 


“ Why, of course I do,” Ruth answered cheer¬ 
fully. “ Every one’s always complaining about 
having to go up to the city for clothes. I think 
the Pleasant Hill ladies will be tickled to death 
to have a real city shop on Main Street.” 

They had entered the house now and were 
climbing the stairs. At the upper landing they 
separated, and the sisters hurried to their 
mother’s room to find Mrs. Bronson just open¬ 
ing her eyes. 

“ Time to get up, lazybones! ” Barbara bent 
to kiss her cheek. 

Mrs. Bronson yawned and sat up. “ What 
have you been doing, darlings? Your cheeks 
are like poppies.” 

“ Upsets, Mumsy mine — upsets in a pa¬ 
goda! ” Babs replied. 

Her mother looked bewildered. “ Are you 
speaking English? No, never mind. Scurry, 
chicks, and let’s see how fast we can dress. This 
is a great day in the Bronson family! ” 


CHAPTER III 


A STRANGE STORY 

The next few days were busy ones. “ The 
Hope Chest,” as Mrs. Bronson called her shop, 
opened its doors, and there were two exciting 
days when Barbara served tea to all comers, 
while pretty Molly paraded in new gowns with 
the poise of a professional model. The formal 
opening was a decided success, and when it was 
over, many of the visitors returned to buy. 

It was too early to be optimistic, for summer 
was a dull season and no real rush of business 
could be hoped for until the autumn styles came 
in. But the beginning was promising, and 
Mrs. Bronson went about her work with a 
lightened heart. 

As soon as the opening was over, she excused 
the girls from attendance at the shop. “ Get 
lots of exercise and lots of rest while you can, 
darlings,” she urged them. “ School will be- 

36 


A STRANGE STORY 37 

gin in less than two months now, and then 
there’ll be plenty of hard work for you both. 
So make the most of these vacation days.” 

This they proceeded to do. Or rather, as 
Babs laughingly put it, she got the exercise 
while Molly got the rest. Molly’s idea of mak¬ 
ing the most of her vacation was to bring home 
an armload of books from the public library and 
to lie most of the afternoon in the old barrel- 
stave hammock at the side of the house. 

Barbara, on the other hand, was out and 
away, exploring the town and getting ac¬ 
quainted. On her first free afternoon Ruth 
had taken her over to the high school, where 
the swimming-pool and tennis courts attracted 
all the young people of the town. 

It was a little disappointing to find that most 
of the younger girls were away at camp or sum¬ 
mer cottage. Pleasant Hill was very warm in 
summer, and every one who could sought cooler 
vacation spots. But the few girls she met wel¬ 
comed her cordially, and she was beginning to 
feel very much at home. 

Sometimes, for a change, the three girls ac¬ 
companied Dr. Curtis on his country rounds. 
Although his town practice had fallen off of 


38 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

late years, the farm people were loyal to “ the 
old Doctor,” and it was no uncommon thing 
for him to drive his battered Ford twenty miles 
to attend a sick child or an injured farm-hand. 
Often he brought home his fee in the form of 
new-laid eggs, garden vegetables, or tree- 
ripened fruit. Babs, especially, enjoyed these 
excursions into what was for her a new world, 
and a fast friendship grew up between her and 
Ruth’s Granther. 

It was a blazing hot afternoon in the second 
week after the Bronsons’ arrival. The three 
girls had all been over for their swim in the early 
morning, and Barbara and Ruth, having reluc¬ 
tantly decided that tennis in such a sun would 
be sheer insanity, came out to join Molly where 
she swayed lazily in her hammock. 

“ I trust you’ve brought a cold drink with 
you,” was her greeting. “ I’m perishing with 
thirst, and too hot to do a thing about it.” 

“ Well, if you think we’ve got nothing better 
to do — ” Babs began indignantly, but Ruth 
hushed her. 

“ Iced drinks are no good in this weather, 
anyway; they just make you thirstier. I 
thought we’d go down to the pagoda and make 


A STRANGE STORY 39 

some hot tea — I’ve a little alcohol stove there, 
and my Chinese tea-set.” 

“Hot tea — oh, Ruth!” Molly groaned. 
“ How can you even think of it ? ” 

Ruth smiled. “ That shows you’ve never 
lived in the tropics. All the white people drink 
hot tea there — that is, the wise ones. Haven’t 
you noticed it in Kipling’s stories about India? 
He describes the heat till you can just feel it, 
and then he always mentions that a servant 
brought in tea. I’ve tried it myself, and, be¬ 
lieve it or not, it’s a lot more cooling than cold 
drinks.” 

“ Well, I’ll take a chance.” Molly scattered 
her pillows and stood up. “ I can’t be any 
hotter, that’s sure.” 

It was very dim in the little pagoda, and Ruth 
opened one shutter just wide enough to give 
them light. “ We’ll feel cooler if we don’t see 
the sun,” she remarked. 

The Bronson sisters dropped upon the chest 
and watched with interest while Ruth brought 
out the red lacquer table. She sat cross-legged 
on the floor with the low table across her knees. 
Then she lighted the alcohol lamp under the 
small copper kettle and began carefully meas- 


40 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

uring tea into a quaint black pot covered with 
white plum blossoms. 

Babs stared down into the tiny saucerless, 
handleless cup that Ruth presently passed 
to her. 

“ Did you say this was tea? Why, it isn’t 
even any color! ” 

“ Oh, yes, it is, the palest possible gold color,” 
Ruth replied, smiling. “ It’s real China tea, 
the Imperial Pekoe, made from buds and flow¬ 
ers and only the very youngest leaves. Most 
Americans would call it insipid; they like 
strong, bitter stuff. But this is the royal 
drink, exactly as it used to be made for the Em¬ 
press Dowager herself. No, you don’t get 
cream and sugar; that would ruin it. Really, 
girls, it’s good. Try it, anyway, and then if 
you don’t like it, I’ll go to the house and make 
lemonade.” 

Molly was the first to sip, deliberately. Then 
her face brightened. “ Why, it’s delicious! It 
tastes like nothing on earth — certainly not a 
bit like any tea I’ve ever tried. Taste it, Babs; 
it’s great! ” 

“No fooling?” Babs wrinkled her sun¬ 
burned nose and stuck a cautious tongue into 



41 


A STRANGE STORY 

her cup. Then she, too, smiled. “ Um-m-m, 
it’s marvelous! I guess the Empress Dowager 
knew what was what, after all. Who was she, 
anyway, Ruth? And how do we happen to be 
drinking her tea? ” 

“ Oh, it wasn’t sacred to the Empress,” Ruth 
replied. “ It’s very popular with the wealthy 
Chinese in this country. Wang gets it from a 
friend in San Francisco. And you surely know 
who Tzu Hsi was, Babs. She was the last real 
ruler of the Empire, before China overthrew the 
Manchus.” 

“ And you think I’d surely know that? ” Bar¬ 
bara asked. “I’m overwhelmed at the com¬ 
pliment, but you might as well find out now as 
later that I never heard of the lady in my life. 
Mercy, I can’t even remember whether Zachary 
Taylor came before Andrew Johnson or after 
Rutherford B. Hayes! How do you happen 
to be so up on Chinese royalty? ” 

“ Well, you see,” Ruth answered, settling 
herself more comfortably on the floor with her 
legs tucked up under her, “ I was born in 
China.” 

Barbara stared at her. “ How perfectly 
crazy! Why, you’re as American as we are! ” 


42 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

“ Crazy yourself, Babs,” Molly interrupted. 
“ She didn’t sav she was Chinese.” 

“ Well, she said she was born there, didn’t 
she ? And you’re what you’re born, aren’t you ? 
How else did we get to be American, I’d like 
to know? ” 

Molly stretched out a languid white hand 
and, with unexpected firmness, clamped it over 
her sister’s mouth. 

“ Go on, Ruthie; tell us all about it. I’d 
have demanded the story of your life long ago 
if I’d had any notion it had such a romantic be¬ 
ginning. Or are you fooling us? ” 

Ruth gave a little sigh. “ It must be won¬ 
derful to have a sister! At first those squabbles 
of yours puzzled me; I really thought every 
minute there’d be a fight! But now — well, 
it’s just your way of having fun, isn’t it? ” 

“ Never you mind, Ruth,” Barbara pushed 
her sister’s hand away. “ We’ll both squabble 
with you, and that way you can have twdce as 
much fun as we do. There, is that a generous 
offer or is it not? But do get on with the story 
if there is one. Or are you just fooling? ” 

“ No, it’s so,” Ruth answered seriously. “ I 
was born in China, really. You see, my father 


A STRANGE STORY 


43 


— he was Granther’s son, of course — was a 
doctor, too, a medical missionary. And so was 
mother. They knew each other in college, and 
they were married and went out to China just as 
soon as they got their degrees. They founded 
a hospital in Chungking and were — oh, aw¬ 
fully famous out there. The Manchu govern¬ 
ment was in power when they first went; there 
was a revolution shortly after, but my parents 
went on with their work just the same. Both 
governments appreciated what they were do¬ 
ing for the poor peasants, and helped them in 
every way. 

“ One of the best friends they made was the 
mandarin Chu Hi, whose estates were near 
Chungking. He was very powerful at the Im¬ 
perial Court, although he was a Chinese, not 
a Manchu. His family for hundreds of years 
had been the hereditary Keepers of the Wall 

— you can imagine what that meant! ” 

“ I can’t, if you mean me,” Babs remarked 
candidly. “No, please don’t explain it now! 
I’m sure it’s one of those things I ought to know. 
Some day when it’s not so hot, I’d just love to 
hear all about the mandarin, What-you-may- 
call-him. But somehow — it must be the heat! 


44 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


— he makes my head swim. Can’t you take a 
short cut and get to you? ” 

“ All right, then,” Ruth answered good- 
naturedly. “ I was born — yes, really! There, 
I beat you to it that time! And I lived in the 
hospital, an example to the Chinese mothers 
of what a properly-brought-up baby should be 
like. I understand I was really one of the star 
attractions of the place. 

“ Well, and then, when I was a year old — ” 
her laughing voice dropped suddenly to a 
deeper note — “a terrible epidemic of cholera 
broke out. It had been a bad year; there’d 
been flood and famine already, and the poor 
people died like flies. The hospital was 
swamped, and my parents worked night and 
day without sleep or rest.” 

“ How terrible! ” Molly breathed. “ Where 
were you while all this was going on? ” 

“ In the mandarin’s palace. Chu Hi’s en¬ 
tire family had been among the first victims of 
the disease, and he was a lonely, broken-hearted 
man. He gave my parents large sums of 
money to help in their fight, and he promised 
them to do what he could to keep their baby 
safe. The sickness never touched me.” 



A STRANGE STORY 


45 


She hesitated for a minute, and the girls no¬ 
ticed that her eyes had filled with tears. “ Your 
parents — ” Molly prompted fearfully. 

Ruth nodded. “Yes. It — it got them. 
Not till the very end, when they’d saved hun¬ 
dreds of lives. They died on the same night 
and were buried together in Chungking.” 

In spite of her gallant efforts, she finished her 
story with a sob. Molly reached out an im¬ 
pulsive hand. “ We’re so sorry, Ruthie dear 
—so awfully sorry! We didn’t mean — ” 
She broke off abruptly, for a shadow had fallen 
across the open door. 

Wang stood there, his keen black eyes sweep¬ 
ing from Ruth’s face, marred by tears, to those 
of the other girls. The imaginative Molly 
fancied that she read accusation in that swift 
glance, but when he spoke, his voice was ex¬ 
pressionless, as usual. 

“Little Flower!” It was his name for 
Ruth. “ The honorable ancestor concludes his 
writings.” 

“ All right, Wang, tell him I’m coming.” 
Ruth rose quickly, and the Chinese, with a deep 
bow, glided off across the grass. 

“ Granther’s been writing some letters and 


46 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

wants me to take them down to catch the last 
mail,” she explained. “ It’s cooler now; maybe 
you girls would like to walk down with me be¬ 
fore supper? ” 

“ That’s a good scheme. We can stop at 
The Hope Chest and bring Mumsy home with 
us,” Babs agreed. “ But you didn’t finish your 
story, Ruth,” she continued, as they hurried 
toward the house. “ How did you get home 
from China all that way by yourself? ” 

“ Oh, Chu Hi sent me; he was awfully kind. 
I was in Wang’s care, and Granther says he 
was the perfect nurse. I was only a year old, 
you know, so of course I don’t remember any¬ 
thing about it.” 

“ And he’s been here ever since — Wang, 
I mean? I thought our Government didn’t let 
Chinamen come to America to live.” 

“ They don’t, usually. But Chu Hi had in¬ 
fluential friends at Washington; I suppose he 
arranged it. I’ve never asked. All I know is 
that Wang was told to look after me, and he’s 
been doing it ever since.” 

“ Ruth,” Molly asked suddenly, “ do you like 
Wang?” 

“ Like him? ” Ruth stopped still and stared 


47 


A STRANGE STORY 

at her. “ Next to Granther, there’s no one in 
the world I’m so fond of. Why do you ask 
that?” 

“ Oh, I don’t know,” Molly answered un¬ 
comfortably. “ I just — wondered.” 

“ I can tell you, Ruth,” Babs volunteered, 
with a mischievous grin at her sister. “ Molly’s 
been reading a lot of thrillers lately; shocking 
literary taste, if you ask me. And they were 
all heavy on the Yellow Peril — smooth, smil¬ 
ing Chinese arch-villains who were plotting to 
overthrow the white race. You know the kind ? 
So, the very minute my precious sister caught 
sight of Wang, she decided that here was some¬ 
thing pretty sinister.” 

Ruth smiled, but her eyes were grave. “ I 
know the kind of books you mean, and I hate 
them! ” she exclaimed vehemently. “ Stirring 
up trouble between nations that have always 
been friendly and giving people ridiculous no¬ 
tions— it oughtn’t to be allowed!” She 
laughed apologetically. “ Sorry, Molly, if 
I’m mean to your pet authors. But it does 
make me so furious! Why do they always have 
to pick on the Chinese for their villains? ” 

“ Well, you’ve got to get a villain from some- 


48 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


where,” Molly answered reasonably. “ And 
the Chinese make grand ones because they’re 
such mysterious people you can believe almost 
anything about them. At least, I always could 
before.” She sighed resignedly. “ I’m afraid 
I won’t be able to keep on if Wang turns out to 
be a perfectly ordinary cook and maid-of-all- 
work. He looks sinister, anyway, Ruth; you 
must admit that.” 

“ Well, he isn’t,” Ruth answered stoutly. 
“ And I don’t believe that, when you know 
him better, you’ll call him 4 ordinary,’ either. 
He’s been nurse and teacher and playmate and 
— oh, just everything to me, bless his heart. 
Sorry, Molly, but if you’re looking for a villain, 
you’ll have to find somebody besides my old 
Wang.” 

44 Oh, well, that’s all right, too,” Molly re¬ 
plied cheerfully. 44 Now that I think it over, 
I believe I’ll be happier with my villains be¬ 
tween the covers of the books, where they be¬ 
long.” 


i 


CHAPTER IV 

THE TATTOOED SAHOR 

A cool breeze sprang up with the sunset. 
Ruth’s flowers, which had drooped all day in 
the blazing sun, lifted their heads gratefully as 
she went among them with her watering-pot. 
Barbara and Molly helped her, and it was al¬ 
most dark when they had finished. 

As they approached the kitchen door, they 
were surprised to see a strange figure coming 
around the corner of the house. 

He was a man of perhaps fifty, dressed in 
rough blue serge and walking with the rolling 
gait of a sailor. His seamed face was tanned 
to a deep mahogany, and the very light gray 
eyes looked strangely out of place in it. 

Because of the heat, he was carrying his coat 
under his arm, and his shirt-sleeves were rolled 
to the elbows. The first thing the girls no¬ 
ticed was that his forearms were heavily tat- 


49 


SO THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


tooed. On each arm a blue and green dragon 
twined, its hideous head downward, the open 
jaws coming well down on the back of the hand. 
Red rays, evidently meant to imitate the fiery 
breath, shot outward, and with the slightest 
movements of his hands the two dragons seemed 
to move and breathe. 

Instinctively Molly and Babs dropped back 
a pace, but Ruth stepped forward. “ Good 
evening. Did you want to see the doctor? ” 
she asked politely. 

For a moment the man did not answer, and 
the odd pale eyes seemed to be appraising her 
from head to foot. He took no notice of the 
girls behind her. 

Then, with an awkward gesture, he removed 
his cap. 

“ Evenin’, miss.” His voice was hoarse, and 
his smile, showing broken and blackened teeth, 
was not attractive. “ Could you tell me, now, 
if I’m right for Dr. Fleming Curtis’ place? 
This is his house, ain’t it? ” 

“ Yes, Dr. Curtis lives here,” Ruth answered. 
“ Have you a message for him? I’m his 
granddaughter. ” 

“ I thought so.” He nodded sagely. “ Aye, 


THE TATTOOED SAILOR 51 

so you're the babby, eh ? You wouldn’t remem¬ 
ber me, I reckon. Old Sailor Jim? You seen 
me afore, missy. You wouldn’t be remem¬ 
berin’, though. Not likely.” 

“ I’m sorry; I don’t. Shall I call Grand¬ 
father? ” 

He shook his head. “ It ain’t him I’m 
wantin’ to see. You got a Chinee here by the 
name of Wang, ain’t you, miss? If you’d just 
tell him that Sailor Jim wants a few words — ” 

The screened door behind him opened si¬ 
lently. “ Wang is here. Greetings O Jim.” 

The sailor wheeled about. “ Well, you old 
heathen, if you ain’t a sight for sore eyes! 
How’re you, anyhow? ” 

“ The days of this unworthy one are days of 
peace,” Wang answered tranquilly. “ There 
is news, O Jim? ” 

“ And plenty! ” the sailor answered emphat¬ 
ically. He turned to look suspiciously at the 
three girls, who still lingered in the path. 

“ Have you got some place where we can 
talk private-like? ” he asked Wang. “ There’s 
a lot to tell, and none too much time. I got 
a week’s shore-leave while the old John J . Por¬ 
ter is loadin’ cargo at Frisco. But it’s a long 


52 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


ways back, and Tm figgerin’ on the mornin’ 
train.” 

Wang held the screened door open. “ A 
room in this dwelling is graciously set aside for 
this humble one. He will be honored if you 
will enter.” 

The girls stared blankly at the closing door. 

“Well, who’s your friend, Ruthie? ” Babs 
demanded. “ Gracious, he looks like some¬ 
thing out of a pirate film! ” 

“Long John Silver — I thought of him 
right away! ” Molly agreed excitedly. “ Ex¬ 
cept that he had a peg-leg — ” 

“ And a parrot,” Babs added. “ I rather 
thought of Captain Hook, myself, or — who 
was that terrible creature who chewed glass to 
show how tough he was? Blackbeard? I 
never can keep my pirates straight. Why 
didn’t you tell us you had friends among them, 
Ruthie? ” 

Ruth shook her head, laughing. “ It was a 
complete surprise to me. You heard him say 
I couldn’t be expected to remember him, and 
I’m sure I don’t. Anyway, he’s Wang’s friend, 
not mine. Shall we go down to the pagoda for 
upsets? It’s almost bedtime.” 





























THE TATTOOED SAILOR 55 

Ruth lighted the swinging oil lamp and put 
a military march record on the little phono¬ 
graph. The three girls went briskly through 
their exercises and then dropped upon the teak- 
wood chest for a good-night chat. 

A pale new moon swung across the sky of 
purple-blue, and all Ruth’s garden flowers 
united to send up their sleepy fragrance. A 
little breeze fluttered the old apple tree and 
caressed the girls’ exercise-flushed cheeks. 

The night was very quiet. The house was 
dark, for Mrs. Bronson and the old Doctor 
were enjoying the evening freshness on the 
front veranda. Only in the little room off the 
kitchen where Wang slept was there a glim¬ 
mer of light and the oddly pitched murmur of 
voices. 

Molly glanced curiously across the lawn. 
“ Am I imagining it, or are Wang and his 
pirate friend singing? Because, if they are, 
I think some one ought to tactfully mention to 
them that their harmony’s all wrong.” 

Ruth listened a minute, then smiled. 
“ They’re talking Chinese. It does sound 
rather like vocal exercises, but that’s part of it, 
you know. The inflection decides the sense of 


56 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


the word. If you say ‘ mow,’ for instance, 
it’s only your tone that shows whether you 
mean ‘ hat ’ or ‘ cat.’ They’re both ‘ mow.’ ” 

“ Well, they certainly go out of their way 
to make trouble for themselves, don’t they? ” 
Babs remarked respectfully. “ I suppose you 
speak Chinese like a native, Ruth? Of course, 
you are a native; I keep forgetting that.” 

“ I’m sorry to say I don’t. Just a few words 
and common phrases that I’ve picked up from 
Wang. I can read fairly well, though. You 
don’t have to know Chinese to read it, you see. 
You can read it in English.” 

“ That doesn’t make sense,” Babs said 
frankly. “How can you? Why, they don’t 
even use our alphabet! Explain, please.” 

“ Well, it’s like this.” Ruth settled herself 
more comfortably. “ You see those Chinese 
writings over there on the wall? They’re quo¬ 
tations from Confucius — proverbs Wang 
thought were suitable for a little girl’s play¬ 
house. The first one says, ‘ The spilling of 
milk is not remedied by the spilling of tears.’ 
That’s familiar, isn’t it? But I’ll bet you never 
knew it came from Confucius in the first place.” 

“ Well, if it did, Poor Richard was not so 


THE TATTOOED SAILOR 57 


original as I’ve been taught to believe,” Bar¬ 
bara laughed. “ But go on, Ruthie. What 
about this reading in English? ” 

“ I’m trying to explain. Those funny little 
characters don’t represent sounds as our let¬ 
ters and words do. They represent ideas. And 
ideas are the same in any language. See if I 
can show you.” She went over to the painted 
wall and scanned it closely. Molly and Babs 
followed her. 

“ Some of these are pretty complicated; I’m 
looking for a simple one. Here.” She laid 
her hand on one of the characters. “ This one 
here that looks like a window — he’s the sun. 

SUN DAWN PEACE 

R H 

Yes, I know the sun doesn’t look like a window, 
Babs. It used to be a circle with a dot inside 
in the ancient Chinese, but when they invented 
wooden type for printing, they found it was 
easier to make everything with square corners. 
Well, anyway, this is the sun. Now look over 
in the corner. Do you see the sun again, with 
a line under him? The line is the horizon. Sun 



58 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

coming over the horizon — you can guess what 
that word is? ” 

“ Dawn? ” Molly ventured. 

“ That’s it! And you don’t have to know the 
Chinese word for sun or horizon or dawn — 
you read the idea, in any language you know. 
You could do it in French or — or Hottentot, 
if you wanted to.” 

“ Sounds entirely too simple,” Babs put in 
suspiciously. “ I’ll bet there’s more to it than 
that. What’s this squiggly thing here? It’s 
not a picture of any idea to me.” 

Buth peered in the direction of her finger. 
“ The light’s so bad — we’ll go into this more 
thoroughly in the daytime if you’re really inter¬ 
ested. Oh, that? It means peace. A woman 
under a roof.” 

“ A woman! I see the roof, but that other 
thing — ” 

“ It is a woman, though. See her arms and 
legs? Of course it’s conventionalized — no- 
body’d ever get his letter written if he had to 
stop and draw a portrait every time. You just 
have to agree that it is a woman and read it that 
way wherever you find it.” 

“ I knew there was a catch in it,” Babs sniffed. 



THE TATTOOED SAILOR 59 


“ It’s interesting, though. And what a bless¬ 
ing it must be to the poor little Chinese who’re 
born bad spellers. I suppose they never even 
find it out! ” 

“ You know a lot, Ruth,” Molly said ad¬ 
miringly. “ Did Wang teach you? ” 

“ He tried to, but I’m afraid I wasn’t a very 
good pupil. Wang is a very learned scholar, 
and I know he was anxious to give me a real 
Chinese education. He got a lot of books for 
me, easy ones — like primers, I guess — and 
we used to do lessons out here every day. But 
I was so impatient; none of the other girls 
stayed in on nice days, studying the Chinese 
classics, and I didn’t see why I should. So, as 
I got older, Wang just gave me up.” 

“ Oh, that’s too bad! Was he disappointed? ” 
“ Yes, I’m sure he was. He never said much, 
though. He went on telling me fairy tales and 
legends and quoting moral maxims — I guess 
maybe he hoped a little of it would soak in, even 
if I wouldn’t study. I’ve always meant to take 
it up again sometime to please him, but I never 
seem to get around to it.” 

“ I don’t see that it would be of much use 
to you,” Barbara said. “ As far as that goes. 



60 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

I don’t see of what use it was to Wang. After 
all, he’s just a cook, and you don’t need much of 
an education in any language for that.” 

“ Oh, but you don’t understand,” Ruth an¬ 
swered earnestly. “ Wang isn’t just a cook. 
He’s a scholar, a teacher. He was tutor to 
the mandarin’s children — the ones who died, 
you know, in the cholera epidemic. He holds 
any number of degrees from some native uni¬ 
versity.” 

“ Well, but he is a cook,” Barbara persisted. 
“ If it isn’t his trade, why does he stay here 
and do it? ” 

“ I don’t know, and Granther doesn’t. You 
said the other day, Molly, that the Chinese are 
mysterious people. I think Wang proves it. 
Do you know that he won’t even take any wages 
from us ? He seems to be supplied with money; 
enough, that is, for his needs, which aren’t many. 
Every year on my birthday he gives me a pres¬ 
ent ; always something simple and inexpensive, 
but lovely. My tea-set, my blue pyjamas, the 
embroidered dresser-scarf in my room — they 
were all presents from Wang. But he’ll take 
from us nothing but shelter and the food he 
eats, and he pays for that by doing the house- 


THE TATTOOED SAILOR 61 


work. And here’s another thing. He con¬ 
siders that he is still working for the mandarin. 
Do you notice that he never calls Granther 
4 master? ’ Granther is 4 the illustrious ances¬ 
tor,’ but Chu Hi is still 4 the master.’ ” 

44 But how funny! ” Molly exclaimed. 44 What 
do you suppose the idea is? ” 

44 We’ve never found out. When Wang 
turned up here with me in his arms, he told 
Granther that it was 4 the master’s ’ pleasure 
that he should remain and serve us until Chu Hi 
gave him different orders. That was fifteen 
years ago, and he’s never told us anything more. 
It’s no use asking Wang questions, and I’ve 
long since given it up.” 

44 1 think it’s perfectly thrilling! ” Molly pro¬ 
tested. 44 A real mystery right in your own 
house! Aren’t you wild to find out what it’s 
all about? ” 

Ruth shook her head. 44 It’s Wang’s own 
business, you know. Of course I can’t help 
wondering sometimes. That man who came 
to-night, now. I don’t know who he could be! 
Wang never has guests. There are a few Chi¬ 
nese in town; some laundrymen and the men 
who run the chop suey restaurant. Sometimes 


62 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

Wang goes to the restaurant after closing time; 
they have a sort of club, I think. But none of 
them ever come here. I can’t remember any 
one’s ever coming to see him before.” 

“ Well, it’s all very mysterious! ” Molly re¬ 
peated, patting back a yawn. “ How about 
bed, girls? I’m asleep on my feet.” 

The long hot day had indeed made Molly 
drowsy, and she fell asleep almost as soon as she 
was in bed. But late that night she wakened to 
find that a sudden chill had invaded the sum¬ 
mer air. 

Sleepily she stumbled to her feet to seek a 
blanket from the closet. Barbara roused as she 
did so, and sat up in bed. 

“ What are you doing, Sis ? Br-r-r, it’s cold! 
It can’t be morning yet, can it? ” 

“No, I’m just getting a blanket. Here’s 
one for you, too. Honey, didn’t we put out 
the light in the pagoda before we came in? ” 

“ Yes, of course; Ruth did. The very last 
thing before she locked the door. Why? ” 

“ Well, it’s burning now. Look. The door 
and the shutters are closed, but you can see light 
through the cracks.” 


THE TATTOOED SAILOR 63 


“ How funny! I was sure Ruth put it out. 
Ought we to go down and see about it? ” 

Molly hesitated, then jumped into bed. “ It 
can’t do any harm; it’ll just burn itself out. 
And I’m frozen stiff, just walking across the 
room. Go back to sleep, kitten; I’m going to.” 

She wakened again, hours later. The room 
was ghostly with the light of early dawn, and 
somewhere in the house there was a murmur 
of voices. 

She strained her ears and decided that the 
sounds came from Dr. Curtis’ room farther 
along the corridor. Men’s voices, they sounded 
like, very low, more a rumbling vibration than 
a sound. And they went on and on. 

Springing softly to her feet, Molly opened 
her bedroom door. The voices were louder 
now, though still indistinct, and she was al¬ 
most sure that she could distinguish Ruth’s soft 
treble, mingled with the deeper tones. She 
was right; they were coming from the Doctor’s 
room. 

Some early patient, perhaps ? That was odd. 
But, after all, it was none of her business. She 
turned back to bed, and, as she did so, she 


64 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


glanced out of the window. No light burned 
in the little pagoda now, but the first slanting 
rays of the sun touched its gay green roof. 

Molly leaned out to see the slender rim of 
the rising sun above the treetops. It made her 
think of something. “ Sun over the horizon — 
dawn! ” she murmured sleepily, and went back 
to bed and to an enchanting dream of herself 
as a princess of old Cathay. 


CHAPTER V 

GONE! 

Molly and Barbara both overslept, and when 
they went down to breakfast, they found that 
their mother had already left for The Hope 
Chest. 

They caught a glimpse of Dr. Curtis reading 
the paper on the veranda as they passed the open 
front door. Their places were laid at the table, 
but there was no sign of Ruth or Wang. 

A little wonderingly they began on the halves 
of golden cantaloupe which waited for them. 
They had almost finished when Ruth pushed 
open the swing door from the kitchen. She 
was carrying a tray with cocoa and cereal, and 
in the first glance the girls noted that her eyes 
were red. 

Her pleasant smile was missing as she briefly 
answered their greetings. She served them 
and slid into her own place, making a pretense 

65 


66 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

of eating her cereal. But Babs, watching her 
shyly, was horrified to see a silent tear splash 
into her lap. 

“ Ruthie, honey, what is the matter? ” she 
asked impulsively. “ Something’s gone wrong 
— do tell us. Maybe we can help.” 

Ruth dabbed her eyes without further at¬ 
tempt at concealment. “ Thanks, Babs, but 
you can’t help. Nobody can. Wang — Wang 
has gone! ” 

“ Gone? Gone where? ” 

“ Back to China. His master, Chu Hi, is 
dying, and he sent for him.” With an effort 
Ruth pulled herself together and managed a 
wan smile. “ I’m sorry to act like this. But 
Wang was awfully dear to me, and I’m going to 
miss him so.” 

“ Of course you are,” Molly said warmly. 
“ But, if his master needs him, you wouldn’t 
want to keep him here. Perhaps he’ll come 
back — afterwards.” 

“ I’m afraid not,” Ruth answered forlornly. 
“ I don’t know whether I told you; after the 
cholera swept his family away, Chu Hi retired 
to a Buddhist monastery. He gave his fortune 
to the poor and became a monk. And — and 


GONE! 


67 

Wang thinks it will be his duty to take the 
vows, too, so that he can stay and look after 
his master till he dies. No one not a monk is 
allowed to live in the monastery for any length 
of time, you know. And they never do come 
out again! I just know Wang doesn’t want 
to be a monk, either! ” 

“ Well, he didn’t have to go, did he? ” Babs 
asked practically. “ Chu Hi couldn’t make 
him. He must have wanted to.” 

“ Oh, he did,” Ruth agreed wearily. “ Wang 
was fond of Granther and me, I know. But 
we’re nothing at all beside Chu Hi. He simply 
couldn’t wait to get away; he caught the early 
morning train with that sailor who brought 
the news.” 

“ Was that what he came for? ” Babs asked. 

“ Yes. He’s a seaman on a freighter trad¬ 
ing between San Francisco and Hongkong, and 
an old acquaintance of Wang’s. He was on 
the ship when Wang brought me over; that’s 
what he meant by saying he’d seen me before. 
He used to work for the mandarin when he was 
a young man, and I suppose that’s why Chu Hi 
picked him out as a messenger. Somehow, I 
just felt that he was bringing us trouble! ” 


68 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


“ When did all this happen, anyway? ” Molly 
asked. 

“ This morning about daybreak — at least, 
that’s the first I heard of it. Wang knocked 
at my door and asked me to come to Granther’s 
room. He said he had something to say to us 
both that couldn’t wait. Sailor Jim was wait¬ 
ing for him out by the gate. They caught the 
early train for the west coast.” 

“ What did Wang say? ” 

“ Oh, just what I’ve told you — that his 
master was in failing health and had sent for 
him. He thanked us for our kindness to him, 
and we thanked him for all he’d done for us, and 
— well, that was all there was to it. The last 
I saw of Wang, he was trudging off to the sta¬ 
tion with that sailor. And I’ll never see him 
again! ” 

Molly’s soft hand stole into Ruth’s. “ It’s 
too bad, dear, and we know just how you feel. 
But you mustn’t mind so much. You wouldn’t 
want him to stay when he wanted to go.” 

“ No, of course not. It isn’t his going I mind 
so much, really. It’s — oh, I can’t explain! ” 

“ You mean you’ll miss his help around the 
house? ” Barbara inquired. 


GONE! 


69 


\ 

“ Oh, no! I don’t mind the work a bit. I’m 
really quite a good cook; Wang said so him¬ 
self. And you girls and your mother aren’t 
a bit of trouble. No, I hadn’t even thought 
about the work.” 

“ We’ll help, you know,” Barbara offered. 
“ We can take all the care of our rooms and 
help with the dishes and the cooking, though 
I’m afraid we’re not terribly good at that. This 
is just like our own home to us, anyway, and 
we might as well be useful.” 

“ Bless you, Babs,” Buth answered grate¬ 
fully. “ I know you mean it, too, though 
really there’s no need — oh, I am glad it was 
you Judge Doyle sent us, instead of some sniffy 
old-lady boarders! ” 

“ So’re we glad.” It was Molly’s gentle 
voice. “ But, Ruth, are you going to tell us? 
You needn’t unless you want to, you know.” 

“ Tell you what? ” Ruth looked startled. 

“ Whatever it is that’s worrying you. You’re 
not just grieving because Wang is gone. No, 
wait. It’s your own business, and we won’t 
ask a single question if you’d rather we 
wouldn’t. But I just thought — well, if we 
could help at all, Babs and I, we want to.” 


70 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

“ What are you talking about, Sis? ” Barbara 
demanded. “ I just told Ruthie we’d help with 
the housework. Didn’t you hear me? ” 

“ It’s more than the housework, I think,” 
Molly answered softly. " Can we help, Ruth? 
Or shall we mind our own business? ” 

The quick tears had started to Ruth’s eyes 
again, but she dashed them away. 

“ Thanks a lot, Molly,” she said soberly. 
“ There is — something, but no one can do any¬ 
thing about it. It’s too late now. I’m the one 
to blame, and I’ll have to take my medicine.” 

She rose and began to clear the breakfast 
table. But warm-hearted little Babs stopped 
her by clutching her about the waist. 

“ Oh, Ruthie, don’t be like that! ” she begged. 
“ My goodness, what’s the use of having friends 
if you can’t unload your troubles an them? 
What is all this, anyway? ” 

“ Hush, dear, Ruth doesn’t — ” Molly be¬ 
gan, but Ruth stopped her. 

“ Yes, I do! It’s no use, and it can’t do any 
good, but maybe I’ll feel a little better. Wait! ” 
She stacked the dishes hastily on the tray, and 
tossed aside her apron. 

“ Will you both come down to the pagoda? 


GONE! 71 

I think it’ll be easier there — if you’re sure you 
don’t mind — ” 

“ Don’t be silly! ” Barbara’s arm was around 
her waist, and Molly was close on her other 
side. 

“ We’ll do the dishes when we come back,” 
Babs went on. “ And do cheer up, Ruthie. 
It can’t be as bad as all that. And, anyway, 
remember that 4 the spilling of milk is not rem¬ 
edied by the spilling of tears.’ ” 

Ruth managed a watery smile, but she did 
not speak until the three girls entered the pa¬ 
goda and took their usual places in the window 
seat. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE KEETERS OF THE WALL 

“ I told you,” Ruth began, with an effort at 
speaking calmly, “ that Wang wanted to edu¬ 
cate me in the Chinese classics? And that he 
gave it up because I didn’t show much interest? 
Well, he’s never referred to it since, and I didn’t 
think he cared much. But this morning, when 
he told us good-by, he told us — something 
else.” 

“ Well? ” Babs prodded as Ruth paused. 
“ Go on, Ruth. Told you what? ” 

“ It seems it wasn’t Wang’s idea; it was Chu 
Hi’s,” Ruth proceeded. “ And now Wang has 
to go back to him and tell him that he failed. 
He feels terribly about it, and it’s alDgy fault.” 

“Did Wang say that?” Molly asked. 
“ Somehow I can’t imagine his scolding you.” 

“ He didn’t scold; he just blamed himself. 
He feels that he failed as a teacher. Don’t you 


KEEPERS OF THE WALL 73 

see? That’s what makes me so ashamed. For 
it wasn’t his fault; it was mine. Oh, I’ll never 
forgive myself, never! ” 

For a moment the two sisters looked at her 
helplessly. There was no consolation that they 
could think of. Then Molly attempted to 
divert her thoughts. 

“ What was Chu Hi’s idea, anyway? Why 
was he so anxious to have you know about his 
country? ” 

“ He lost his own children in the epidemic — 
I told you that,” Ruth answered slowly. 
“ There was no son to come after him and be 
the Keeper of the Wall when he died. And 
I think — he was my father’s friend, you know. 
He seems to think that I could take his son’s 
place. At least, that is what Wang told us 
this morning. He never said anything about 
it before.” 

The Bronson sisters looked completely be¬ 
wildered. 

“ You said something about Wang’s master’s 
being the Keeper of the Wall the other day, but 
I didn’t understand it very well,” Molly ven¬ 
tured. “ I supposed he was a soldier — you 
know, like Horatius keeping the bridge. I 


74 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


don’t see what you could have to do with that.” 

“Is it the Great Wall of China that has to 
be kept? ” Barbara asked uncertainly. “ Be¬ 
cause that sounds like a rather large order for 
one lone girl, if you ask me.” 

“ It’s hard to explain,” Buth answered. 
“ The Chinese talk in parables, you know. But 
the Great Wall isn’t a wall any more; it’s a 
symbol.” 

“ Oh, you’re wrong there, Buthie,” Babs an¬ 
swered earnestly. “ It’s an honest-to-goodness 
wall, all right; I saw it in a news reel not long 
ago. It’s made of brick, and it’s so wide that 
six horsemen can ride abreast on it. And it’s 
the only handiwork of man that would be 
visible from the moon — how’s that for in¬ 
formation? Oh, yes, and it would reach from 
New York to Kansas and half again as far if 
the kinks were all straightened out. So it’s 
no use trying to tell me it’s just an imaginary 
line like — like the equator.” 

Buth smiled faintly. “ I didn’t say that. 
Of course the Great Wall is real. I know a lot 
of facts about it, too. It was built in the fourth 
or fifth century, B.C., but was repaired and 
strengthened in the thirteenth century, A.D., 


KEEPERS OF THE WALL 75 

to keep out the Tartars. Chu Hi’s ancestor 
fought a glorious battle up and down forty 
miles of it and turned back the invaders so ef¬ 
fectually that they didn’t come again in his life¬ 
time. And, because of that, the Emperor made 
him and his descendants Keepers of the Wall 
forever.” 

“ The Tartars did get in at last, though,” 
Molly remarked. “ And the Mongols and the 
Manchus — why, the Manchus conquered China 
and ruled it till our own time. Why didn’t 
Chu Hi’s ancestors do something about that? ” 

“ They did,” Ruth answered patiently. 
“ They kept the Wall through all the changes 
that came. But, instead of the material Wall, 
they kept a spiritual one. That’s what I meant 
when I said the Wall had become a symbol.” 

“ Would you mind putting that in plain 
English?” Babs asked politely. “Me, I’m 
away out over my head already.” 

“ I’ll try.” The sisters were pleased to see 
that, in the interest of the discussion, Ruth had 
forgotten her recent distress. “ Hid you ever 
stop to think,” she went on, “ that China is the 
only country we studied in ancient history that’s 
still here? Its records go back five thousand 


76 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

years, and it was a civilized nation then. When 
Babylon and Egypt were great nations — 
well, China was, too. But they’re gone, and 
China is still a great nation. Then Greece and 
Rome came along, had their day, and were 
gone. China was old when they were young, 
and China is here yet. No other country in 
the world ever managed to do it.” 

“ Why, how funny! I never thought of it 
before, but it’s true!” Molly exclaimed. 
“ When Greece was conquered by Rome, it 
was just blotted out as a country. And the 
same thing happened when the barbarians con¬ 
quered Rome. But China has been conquered 
lots of times — ” 

“And she’s still China!” Ruth finished 
triumphantly. “ That’s what I mean. It 
doesn’t matter what happens from the outside. 
China protects herself behind a Wall; an in¬ 
visible one that no one can see, but that’s so 
strong nothing can break it down. When the 
Romans conquered a country, they made Ro¬ 
mans of the inhabitants. But when the Tar¬ 
tars and then the Manchus conquered China, 
they became Chinese. That’s what the Wall 
does.” 


KEEPERS OF THE WALL 77 

Barbara stirred restlessly. “ Seems to me 
this conversation’s getting dangerously instruc¬ 
tive. After all, it’s supposed to be summer 
vacation, isn’t it? If you could just tell us 
in a few simple words what this mysterious in¬ 
visible Wall is, maybe then we could go back to 
topics more suited to my feeble intellect.” 

“ I’m sorry,” Ruth replied. “ I didn’t mean 
to deliver a lecture; honestly I didn’t. But 
I’m just trying to explain — you see, honey, 
the Wall stands for learning. They think — 
now, mind you, we may not agree at all, but 
they’d say that just proves our ignorance — 
they firmly believe that all the wisdom in the 
world is contained in the Chinese classics and 
that, as long as they treasure this knowledge 
and hand it down, no outside ‘ barbarians ’ can 
injure them, no matter what they do. And 
you’ll have to admit that it seems to have worked 
pretty well up to now.” 

“ Then Wang’s Chu Hi isn’t a soldier? ” 
Molly asked. “ His way of keeping the Wall 
is by knowing so much and passing it on? Is 
that it? ” 

“ That’s it. The first Chu Hi was a soldier, 
of course, and many of the earlier descendants. 





78 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


But, as the Chinese came to rely on knowledge 
rather than force, the family kept its position 
by excelling in learning. Wang’s Chu Hi is 
such a profound scholar that he was respected 
and feared at the court of the Empress Dowa¬ 
ger, although she was a Manchu. If he hadn’t 
given up the world and became a monk, he’d 
still be an important man under the new govern¬ 
ment. That’s why they call learning ‘ the Wall 
which cannot be broken while the Keepers are 
faithful.’ And — ” suddenly Ruth’s face fell 
— “ that’s why I’ve done such a dreadful thing. 
I was to have been a Keeper, and I have failed! ” 
“ But why you , Ruth? ” Molly asked. “ I 
still can’t see the point. You’re an American. 
What good would it do to make you a Keeper ? ” 
“ I don’t know. Wang didn’t explain, and 
I hadn’t the heart to ask him. Oh, if he’d only 
told me before! That was why he came, why 
he stayed with us all these years. He wanted 
to teach me, and I didn’t understand.” 

“ Well, why didn’t he tell you? ” inquired 
Barbara. “ Why didn’t he insist on your 
studying if there was such a good reason f or it ? ” 
“ Because it had to be of my own free will — 
I had to want wisdom for its own sake. Don’t 


KEEPERS OF THE WALL 79 


you see? Wang was to offer it to me, and, if 
I really were the sort of person who was worthy 
to be a 'Keeper,’ I’d take it. And — well, 
I wasn’t, and I didn’t. That’s the whole story.” 

“ Well, I think that’s a crazy notion! ” Babs 
said indignantly. “ I wouldn’t know long di¬ 
vision to this day if Miss Gray had been like 
that. She kept me in at recess and after school 
for a week, just laboring with me, and she didn’t 
let me out till I knew the stuff. Nobody wor¬ 
ried about whether I was worthy to learn long 
division or not. I learned it or else — ! ” 

“ Would you just as soon not bring that up, 
Babs? ” Molly put in. “No one in the Bron¬ 
son family has forgotten your battle with long 
division — I’ve always thought myself it had 
something to do with poor Miss Gray’s nervous 
breakdown six years later. You never saw 
anything like it, Ruth. Mums tried to teach 
her, I tried it, and poor Miss Gray vowed she’d 
get it into her head if it took a lifetime. I still 
shudder when I recall what we all went 
through.” 

“ Well, heaven knows I’m not anxious to re¬ 
call it,” Babs said hastily. “ Anyway, I 
learned it, didn’t I ? And that proves — now 


80 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

you’ve made me go and forget what I was try¬ 
ing to prove, Sis! What was I talking about, 
Ruth? ” 

“ I think the general idea was to try to cheer 
me up,” Ruth answered, and the sisters were 
glad to notice that her smile was real. “ You 
have, too, both of you. I’ll always be sorry that 
I disappointed Chu Hi and Wang, but it can’t 
be helped now. And thanks a lot for listening 
to my troubles — I never had any one to talk 
things out with before, and it does help.” 

“ Now you’re being sensible, Ruth,” Molly 
applauded. “ It’s too bad it turned out the 
way it did, but there’s no use in worrying over 
it now. Let’s talk about something else.” 

“ All right,” Ruth agreed willingly. “ Wang 
asked me to say good-by to you girls. He said 
that he went with a lighter heart because he 
was leaving me with such good friends.” 

“ He did? ” Molly asked, startled. “ Why, 
I thought he didn’t like us. He always looked 
at us so queerly — ” 

“ Oh, that was just his way. At first, I sup¬ 
pose, he was making up his mind about you. 
But he really did like you both, and your 
mother, too. He was glad you came.” 


KEEPERS OF THE WALL 81 


“ Now aren’t you ashamed, Sis?” Babs 
asked. “ And all the time you were trying to 
make him out a villain.” 

“ Oh, I was not! ” Molly answered warmly. 
“ That was just at the very first — you know, 
Ruth, we talked about Chinese villains? You 
don’t think he guessed? ” 

“I’m sure he didn’t. He called you 4 the 
golden-hearted one ’ and Babs 4 the small one 
who sees clearly.’ So you see he liked you 
both.” 

“Good old Wang!” Barbara exclaimed. 
“We could easily have been nicer to him, too. 
Oh, mercy, now you’ve got me doing it! ” 

“Do you know what I’ve been thinking, 
Ruth?” Molly asked softly. 44 1 don’t think 
your lessons were such a failure, after all. You 
may not have learned as much as Wang ex¬ 
pected, but you do know a lot about China, 
more than any one else I know. I studied 
Asiatic history last year, and I didn’t find out 
the things you’ve told us — about the invisible 
Wall and all that. It seems to me you got the 
spirit, even if you missed some facts. You 
understand China. Why, what’s the matter ? ” 
For Ruth was staring at her, her cheeks 


82 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


flushed with excitement. “Molly!” she ex¬ 
claimed now. “ Did — you’ve talked to Wang! 
Did he tell you? ” 

“ What do you mean ? I haven’t seen Wang 
since his queer friend came last night. Why ? ” 

“ Oh! I thought he might have — it seemed 
so odd, your saying that.” 

“ Saying what? ” 

“ About — about my really having learned 
something. You see, just before he went, 
Wang said something like that. He said that 
he’d never had a girl pupil before and that he 
should have remembered women learn by in¬ 
stinct rather than reason. I don’t know just 
how he put it, but that was what he meant. 
And — I don’t understand this at all — he said 
very solemnly that all things are possible under 
heaven and that, if I sought it earnestly, my 
feet would yet find the path. It did sound sort 
of hopeful, don’t you think? ” 

“ Of course it did! ” Molly exclaimed. “ I 
don’t see why you’ve done all this regretting and 
worrying if he said that! What else did he 
tell you? ” 

“ That w r as all. He put his hands on my 
head and blessed me in Chinese and gave me his 


KEEPERS OF THE WALL 83 


farewell letter. Then he said good-by to 
Granther and went away.” 

“ Why a farewell letter? ” Babs asked cu¬ 
riously. 44 He was saying farewell, wasn’t he? ” 

44 Yes.. I don’t know why he wrote me a 
letter, too.” 

Ruth put her hand into her pocket and drew 
out a tiny, tightly rolled cylinder of rice paper. 

44 I was so upset I completely forgot it,” she 
confessed. 44 Granther and I just glanced at it. 
It’s very flowery, and I don’t know exactly 
what it means. Maybe you can find some more 
consolation in it, Molly. You seem to be good 
at that.” 


CHAPTER VII 


THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

“ Why, it’s in English! ” 

Molly smoothed out the thin paper. The 
words were printed in India ink with a fine 
brush, and there was a Chinese look to the let¬ 
ters, but they were undoubtedly English ones. 

“ Yes, Wang could write it, or, rather, print 
it, wdien he wanted to. I suppose he didn’t 
trust my Chinese to get the sense of it.” 

Barbara had been rapidly scanning the note 
over her sister’s shoulder. “ Well, if you can 
get the sense of it this way, you’re brighter than 
I am. What does he mean, anyway, Ruth? 
Do you know? ” 

“ I’m afraid I don’t, exactly. Read it out 
loud, Molly, and see what you think.” 

Molly read aloud very slowly: 

“ Wouldst thou find happiness? 

“ The eye of the uninstructed seeth it in many 

84 


THE CHINESE RIDDLE 85 

places, but the learned person is not deceived. For 
where shall happiness lie, save between the bringers of 
brightness, below that which is highest, and above 
the one of all most miserable? 

“ Yet shall it not he thine until thou hast thrust 
it from thee! 99 

“ Well, he wants you to be happy,” Molly 
said doubtfully. “ And as nearly as I can 
make out, he’s telling you how. Is that the 
way it seems to you, Ruth? ” 

“ Ye-es, I guess so. I didn’t think all that 
flowery part was meant to tell me anything in 
particular, though; I thought it was just gen¬ 
eral good wishes. ‘ For where shall happiness 
lie, save between the bringers of brightness, be¬ 
low that which is highest, and above the one of 
all most miserable ? ’ That doesn’t tell me any¬ 
thing. It asks a question, doesn’t it? ” 

“ Rut it’s a question with the answer in it,” 
Molly argued. “ He’s saying that happiness 
does lie between the bringers of brightness and 
all the rest of it, if that means anything to you. 
It certainly doesn’t to me.” 

I think it sounds like a riddle,” Babs put in. 
“ Or some sort of Chinese joke. Was Wang 
fond of jokes, Ruth? ” 


86 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


“ Mercy, no! He was the most solemn per¬ 
son I ever knew. You’re right, Babs; it does 
sound like a riddle. But why should Wang 
leave me a riddle to guess? He won’t even 
know if I find the answer.” 

“ Just what did he say when he gave it to 
you? ” Molly asked thoughtfully. 

“ I told you. He’d been talking about 
woman’s instinct and how it was her way to 
knowledge. Only he didn’t say ‘ knowledge ’; 
he said ‘ the pearls of heaven.’ That’s another 
name for it.” 

“ My goodness, and a little while ago you said 
another name for it was the Great Wall,” Babs 
giggled. “ Pearls and walls! Far be it from 
me to criticize, Ruthie, but I got a D on a per¬ 
fectly perfect theme once, just because I mixed 
metaphors.” 

“ Oh, well — ” Ruth laughed, too. “ When 
the whole Chinese language is practically made 
of metaphors, you can’t expect them not to get 
mixed once in a while. Anyway, I knew what 
Wang meant.” 

“ Well, we’re trying to figure out what he did 
mean,” Molly said patiently. “ You’re always 
changing the subject, Babs; let’s stick to 


THE CHINESE RIDDLE 87 


Wang’s riddle for a few minutes. He told 
you,” she went on to Ruth, “ that he should 
have remembered that a woman’s instinct was 
her way to the ‘ pearls of heaven.’ That’s what 
you told us a little while ago, wasn’t it? Then 
did he give you the paper ? Right away, with¬ 
out saying anything more? ” 

“No, first he said what I told you — that all 
things are possible under heaven and that, if 
I sought it earnestly, my feet w^ould find the 
path. That’s when he gave me the paper, just 
as he said that. Then he blessed me and went 
away.” 

“ Can’t you write and ask him what he 
meant? ” Babs asked suddenly. 

Ruth shook her head. “ I don’t even know 
where the monastery is. No, if I don’t figure it 
out myself, I’ll never — ” 

“ Ruth, listen! ” Molly exclaimed excitedly. 
“I think I’ve got something! I believe this 
letter is a test! ” 

“A test? I’m afraid I don’t understand, 
Molly.” 

“ But it’s so plain! Wang said that, if you 
sought it earnestly, your feet would find the 
path. He meant the path to knowledge, of 


88 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


course — that’s what he’d been talking about. 
And he’d just been saying that your instinct 
might make up for the studying you didn’t do. 
Well, don’t you see? The riddle gives you an¬ 
other chance. If you use your instinct for all 
it’s worth and if you do some earnest seeking, 
you can find the answer to the riddle. And if 
you can do that, it’ll prove — ” 

“ That I’m not a failure? ” Ruth’s face 
brightened amazingly. “ Oh, Molly, you clever 
thing! But how can it be ? Even working out 
the riddle wouldn’t prove that I’d mastered all 
those volumes of classics Wang was so keen 
about.” 

“ No, but it would show this,” Molly an¬ 
swered slowly. “ That you’d learned to under¬ 
stand the Chinese mind, to think as they think. 
Maybe that isn’t all that Wang hoped for you, 
but it must be the most important thing. And, 
from what he said, I believe he thinks now it’s 
enough.” 

“ That was what my studies were for,” Ruth 
agreed instantly. “ To learn to understand — 
Wang said so. I see what you mean, Molly. 
Wang’s riddle is an example of Chinese think¬ 
ing ; it would never make sense to any one who 



THE CHINESE RIDDLE 89 


didn’t know their ways. But if it makes sense 
to me , then I do know, and Wang’s efforts to 
teach me weren’t wasted. Oh, but this is won¬ 
derful! All I have to do is work out the riddle 
— let me see it again! ” 

She took the little piece of paper and wrinkled 
her brows over it. And slowly, as she read and 
reread, the light died out of her face. Her lips 
quivered as she raised her eyes at last. 

“ Well, I’m afraid it isn’t quite so wonderful, 
either,” she said, with a gallant attempt at a 
smile. “ It — it doesn’t make a bit more sense 
than it did before.” 

“ Of course it doesn’t,” Molly answered 
quickly. “Do you think Wang would make 
it so simple as all that? Don’t you remember 
he warned you that it would take some earnest 
seeking? You haven’t even begun, yet! This 
isn’t a game, it’s a serious test, remember.” 

Ruth threw her a grateful glance. “ I don’t 
know what I’d do without you, Molly! I was 
silly to think I could work it right off. 
Well — ” she drew a long breath. “ I don’t 
know how useful my instinct will be, but I’m 
certainly going to be an earnest seeker. I dis¬ 
appointed Wang once, but I’ll not do it again. 




90 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

He’s given me this chance, and I’m going to 
make good if it takes me the rest of my life! ” 

“ Good for you, Ruthie! ” Babs had been 
a silent and puzzled listener up to now. “ The 
old never-say-die spirit that made our gee-lori- 
ous nation what she is to-day! Don’t give up 
the ship! Lafayette, we are here! Well, that 
last one doesn’t seem to fit, exactly, but — ” 
Molly interrupted her firmly. “ She means 
well, Ruth; but you’ll have to learn to sit on her 
if you ever expect to get anywhere. Keep still, 
young ’un. Have you any idea how you’ll start, 
Ruth? ” 

Ruth slowly nodded. “ Yes, I have. I’m 
going to take up my Chinese studies right where 
I left off years ago. The riddle may be a quo¬ 
tation I ought to know; maybe part of a poem. 
Of course it may not, but, anyway, if the idea is 
to learn to think in the Chinese wav, the books 
will help me. Don’t you think so, Molly? ” 

“ Yes, that seems the best way to begin. You 
may come across something that will help right 
away. You still have the books Wang gave 
you? ” 

“ They’re here in the chest we’re sitting on. 
I’ll start studying to-morrow.” 


THE CHINESE RIDDLE 91 

Babs wriggled uneasily. “Studying — in 
this weather? Oh, Ruthie, do you have to do 
that? ” 

“ It won’t be studying — it’ll be more like 
working out a puzzle, honey. I’ve seen you 
doing cross-words on hotter days than this. 
And I’ll never have a minute’s peace till I know 
what the riddle means.” 

“Oh — curiosity!” Barbara looked re¬ 
lieved. “ Well, now you’re getting down to 
my level. How’d you like to take a pupil? 
Tm curious, too.” 

“ It’s Ruth’s riddle, remember,” Molly 
warned her. “ Wang didn’t suggest that we 
should take a hand. It would be rather fun 
to study with you, though, Ruth. We wouldn’t 
interfere with what you’re trying to do, but I 
should like to know a little more about that 
fascinating writing — that is, if the books are 
easy enough.” 

“ Oh, they are,” Ruth answered eagerly. “ I 
never got beyond what would be about the sec¬ 
ond grade with us — the classics retold for chil¬ 
dren, the same ones that are used in the Chinese 
schools. You girls could learn enough to read 
as well as I do, I know. And I’d love to have 




92 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


you if you wouldn’t be bored. Would you 
really like to try? ” 

“ Tell me this first,” Babs said cautiously. 
“ Is there any mathematics? Because that’s 
where I draw the line.” 

“ Not in my books,” Ruth reassured her. “ I 
guess I didn’t get that far.” 

“ That’s grand. Spelling’s out, thank good¬ 
ness — you explained that. Let’s see. Gram¬ 
mar? I’m not very fond of that.” 

“No grammar,” Ruth answered gayly. 
“ All the books are story-books, Babs, myths 
and legends, and history — not that I can al¬ 
ways tell which is which. And poetry; some 
of it is really lovely. Then there is a lot of 
philosophy; the sayings of Confucius and that 
sort of thing. An educated Chinese is supposed 
to have a maxim on the tip of his tongue to fit 
any situation that can possibly come up.” 

“ And I suppose that makes him the life of 
the party,” Barbara said gloomily. “ They 
smiled when I sat down at the piano, but they 
roared when I quoted Confucius! Oh, well, 
just so I know the worst! ” 

“ You don’t have to do it, dear. Some of it 
is awfully tiresome, and I’m not much of a 



THE CHINESE RIDDLE 93 

teacher. There’s really no reason why you girls 
should bother.” 

“ But we want to, Ruth,” Molly insisted. 
“ At least, I do. I was so interested in what 
you’ve told us. If I can learn half as much as 
you know, it’ll be worth while. We’ll excuse 
the youngster here — ” 

“You will not!” Babs cried indignantly. 
“ I guess I need moral maxims on the tip of my 
tongue as much as anybody! I never know the 
right answer when a teacher gets sarcastic 
about my punctuation — probably Confucius 
will give me a really snappy comeback. I’m 
in this, Ruthie, so you might as well resign 
yourself.” 

“ Well, we’ll leave it this way.” Ruth smiled 
at her two friends. “ We’ll all three start, an 
hour or two down here every afternoon. And 
neither of you needs to come any day when 
you’ve something better to do. Then if you 
find it’s a nuisance and want to give it up, that’ll 
be all right, too. Does that suit every one? ” 

“ Suits me,” Molly agreed. “ But I don’t 
think I’m going to find it a nuisance. Can we 
start this afternoon, Ruth? ” 

Ruth glanced at her wrist-watch. “ Heav- 



94 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


ens, it’s ten o’clock, and the breakfast dishes 
not touched! Yes, I think we can begin after 
lunch. But I must fly! ” 

“ And we’ve been too upset for upsets this 
morning,” Barbara observed. “ We’ll have to 
do a double dose to-night. Come on, Sis, let’s 
straighten up our rooms while Buth does the 
dishes. Then we start digging for the ‘ pearls 
of heaven ’ about one, Ruth? All right, 
Teacher. I’ll be here with a big red apple! 55 


CHAPTER VIII 


HUNS AND TARTARS 

Ruth began by reviewing for herself, and 
teaching her two “ pupils,” the two hundred and 
fourteen radicals, or root signs, on which the 
written Chinese language is based. 

Ruth explained that these pictures give the 
clue to the sense, while the phonetic signs used 
with them indicate the sound. They decided 
not to bother much with the phonetics, since to 
learn to speak the language without a teacher 
was clearly impossible. If they could just 
learn to read well enough to understand Wang’s 
books, Ruth felt they would have accomplished 
all that they could hope for. 

These books, thin paper-bound volumes 
stitched in bright red silk, fascinated the Bron¬ 
son girls. They made many mistakes and en¬ 
countered many difficulties, but they did begin 

95 


96 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

to feel before long that they were making some 
progress. 

On a rainy afternoon about a month after 
Wang’s departure the three girls were busy in 
the pagoda. Summer rain drenched the out¬ 
side world and pattered on the roof, but inside 
all was snug and cozy. 

Molly suddenly looked up from the volume 
on her lap. “ Do you know what this makes 
me think of ? ” she asked. 

She was reading, or trying to read, a simpli¬ 
fied version of the “ Book of War,” written by 
Chin two thousand years ago. 

“ It’s exactly like Julius Caesar! ” she went 
on. “ You know, we had his 6 Gallic Wars ’ in 
second-year Latin. This man has the very 
same way that Caesar had of assuming that of 
course his country was doing the barbarians a 
favor by conquering them.” 

“ I’ve noticed that, too.” Ruth raised her 
eyes. “ The Chinese were like the Romans in 
a lot of ways. They were perfectly convinced 
that they were the only civilized nations and 
that it was a blessing to the rest of the world to 
be noticed by them — even if it meant a war! 
They both figured that it was terribly ungrate- 


HUNS AND TARTARS 97 

ful of any other country to object to being con¬ 
quered by them.” 

“ I wonder how they got that way? ” Babs, 

ever willing to forego study for conversation, 

laid down her book. “ The Chinese, I mean. 

I know how the Romans did. They really were 

more civilized than most of the tribes they 

fought with. They called the rest of the world 

barbarians because barbarians were about all 

thev ever ran into.” 

•/ 

“ Well, it was the same way with the Chi¬ 
nese,” Ruth answered. “ Their first enemies, 
away back in the B.C.’s when they built the 
Wall, were the Huns, the same people the Ro¬ 
mans had their troubles with.” 

“Why, I never knew that!” Molly ex¬ 
claimed. “ Are you sure, Ruth? ” 

Ruth nodded. “ Not the very same Huns, 
of course. But they all came from Mongolia, 
north of China — hordes of wild horsemen, with 
nothing on their minds but fighting. Some of 
them went east into Europe, and others went 
south into China. They were called by differ¬ 
ent names, and of course there were lots of dif¬ 
ferent tribes. But they all came from the same 
neighborhood, and they all had the same bad 



98 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

habits. They never built a city of their own, 
but they destroyed and burned and robbed 
wherever their wild horses carried them.” 

“ Nice people! ” Babs observed. “ I remem¬ 
ber reading about Genghiz Khan and Tamer¬ 
lane — I suppose they were some of that lot? ” 
“ Yes, but that was centuries later,” Ruth 
answered. “ They didn’t change much in a 
thousand years, though. The Khans were 
Tartars, and they threw a terrible scare into 
Europe when they conquered Russia. They 
were in China at the same time, too — the thir¬ 
teenth and fourteenth centuries that was, if I’ve 
got the dates right. And later some of their 
cousins swooped down on India — they called 
them Moghuls there. They came awfully close 
to conquering the whole world once. It was 
really only because they fought among them¬ 
selves that the Western nations were able to 
drive them out of Europe. Just suppose they 
hadn’t! Where do you suppose we’d be? ” 

“ It’s not where; it’s what,” Babs answered 
cheerfully. “ They’d have been bound to dis¬ 
cover America sometime, even if they’d grabbed 
poor Isabella’s jewels so she couldn’t send Co¬ 
lumbus over. They’d have settled down over 


HUNS AND TARTARS 99 

here, and we’d be young Tartars, that’s all. 
Only I’d be a disgrace to the tribe because I 
never could stick on a horse! ” 

“No wonder the Chinese looked down on 
them,” Molly said thoughtfully. “ They really 
were barbarians — the Tartars, I mean.” 

“ Oh, fearful ones! ” Ruth agreed. “ They 
couldn’t read or make things or do anything 
but fight. And for hundreds of years they were 
the neighbors the Chinese saw the most of, so 
naturally China felt terribly superior, just as 
Rome did. And the funny thing is that when 
the Tartars captured China, they got that in¬ 
feriority feeling and started right in to learn to 
be as Chinese as possible. The old invisible 
Wall, you see.” 

“Well, it seems to work, all right! How 
about the Manchus? They were the last con¬ 
querors, weren’t they? ” 

“ Yes, and they started out to change things 
to suit themselves. But they wound up, like 
all the rest of them, by respecting Chinese learn¬ 
ing and trying to copy it. Nobody’s ever yet 
been able to convince the Chinese that they don’t 
know everything in the world.” 

“ I don’t see how they can feel that way now,” 



100 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

Babs remarked. “ I mean, now that they know 
Americans and English and French people. 
They don’t think we’re barbarians, do they? ” 

“ Well, it’s only lately that they’ve been will¬ 
ing to admit we’re not,” Ruth smiled. “ And 
they still don’t say that we know more than 
they do. They only agree that we have some 
new discoveries to add to what they always 
knew. They’re sending students over here and 
welcoming Americans, like my parents, who 
come to teach them the new sciences. The idea 
is that they’ll put our new knowledge on top of 
their old, and then they’ll still know more than 
the rest of the world.” 

“ Well, you have to admire them for not giv¬ 
ing up,” Babs laughed. “ That’s their story, 
and they stick to it.” 

She turned to survey the dripping trees. The 
rain was slackening now, and flying wisps of 
cloud revealed occasional patches of blue sky. 
Barbara cast her book from her with a yawn. 

“ I think I’ve done enough for to-day,” she 
remarked. “ Two solid weeks on the story of 
the Archer Lord and the Western Royal 
Mother, and very tame it turned out when I got 
to the end. That is, if I read it right. Fancy 


HUNS AND TARTARS 101 

having your wife turned to a frog! How about 
tea, Ruthie ? Is there still some of the Empress 
Dowager’s choicest? ” 

“ Yes, but it’s getting low.” Ruth gathered 
up the books and brought out the little kettle. 
“I’m afraid we’ll have to come down to com¬ 
mon grocer’s tea pretty soon. We’ll never be 
able to get the royal kind without Wang.” 

“ You haven’t heard anything from him, 
have you? ” Molly asked. “ I thought your 
grandfather might at least have had a card say¬ 
ing he arrived safely.” 

“ Not a word,” Ruth answered. “ It’s been 
a month now since he left us, and it seems like 
a year.” 

“ Ruth,” Rabs asked abruptly, “ are you get¬ 
ting any nearer to the answer to the riddle? 
Have you found anything that helped in all 
this? ” She swept her hand toward the pile 
of books. 

“ Not a thing, Babs,” Ruth answered soberly. 
“ I’ve tried so hard, too! I thought Wang’s 
riddle might be a quotation from some poem 
and that, if I could find the place, it would tell 
me the rest of it. But I’ve gone right through 
the volume of Li Po, and there’s nothing there.” 


102 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


“ Oh, well, cheer up, honey,” Molly said con¬ 
solingly. “ There’s another month before 
school begins and a lot of books you haven’t 
touched yet. There’s plenty of time to find it.” 

“ Sometimes I think it takes more than time, 
girls,” Ruth answered. “ It takes more — 
well, brains — than I seem to have.” 

“ Oh, don’t weaken! ” Babs admonished her. 
“ Remember that you were born in China. 
Didn’t you just tell us that the Chinese never 
admitted they hadn’t all the brains in the world? 
You’ll find it, all right. See if you don’t.” 

“ Nice of you to say so, anyway,” Ruth an¬ 
swered gratefully. “ And I’m not weakening, 
Babs. I wouldn’t dare, with you two around 
— why, you’d never speak to me again if I gave 
up. Don’t pay any attention to anything I say. 
I may get discouraged sometimes, but I’m 
never, never going to quit till I know the 
answer! ” 



CHAPTER IX 


THE SAILOR’S RETURN 

On the next morning the three girls, follow¬ 
ing their daily custom, went over to the high 
school for a swim. They met several friends 
and were late in returning. 

“ It’s lunch-time right now,” Ruth exclaimed, 
as she opened the front door. “ I’m afraid it’ll 
be a hurry-up meal, girls — do you mind 
chipped beef and canned soup? There’s some 
cake from yesterday — oh! ” She broke off, 
staring across the hall toward the dining-room. 

The table, which she had left bare except for 
a centerpiece and bowl of flowers, was laid for 
four. And from behind the closed kitchen door 
came the clatter of pans. 

44 What in the world — ” Ruth began. 

44 Maybe Wang has come back! ” Molly ex¬ 
claimed in the same breath. 

44 Oh, no, it couldn't be! ” But Ruth’s eyes 


103 





104 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


were shining as she started impetuously toward 
the kitchen. 

“ Ruthie! ” The old Doctor’s voice startled 
them. “Come here, dear; I have something 
to tell you. You, too, girls.” 

Rather reluctantly they turned back and en¬ 
tered the Doctor’s study. He rose from his 
desk and closed the door behind them. 

“ Tell us, Granther,” Ruth begged. “ Oh, 
I’m so excited! Who is in the kitchen? It 
couldn’t be Wang, could it? ” 

The light died out of her eyes as Dr. Curtis 
shook his head. “No, dear. I’m afraid, 
when our good Wang told us farewell, it was 
forever.” 

“ Yes, I know,” Ruth answered disappoint¬ 
edly. “ It was silly of me to think of it. But 
just for a minute, when I saw the table all set 
and waiting as it used to be — oh, well! You 
wanted to speak to me, Granther? ” 

“ I haven’t answered your question yet,” he 
pointed out. “ Don’t you still want to know 
who’s in the kitchen? ” 

“ Yes, of course. Only it doesn’t seem to 
matter so much now. Who is it, Granther? 
And why? We didn’t need a cook.” 



THE SAILOR’S RETURN 105 


“ Well, we have one, anyway. Also a gar¬ 
dener and odd-job man. It’s rather a puzzling 
situation, my dear. I confess I didn’t know 
exactly how to deal with it.” 

The old gentleman removed his glasses, and 
his gentle blue eyes blinked helplessly in the 
noonday light. Molly noticed, not for the first 
time, how very frail he looked, sitting there be¬ 
hind the big desk. 

Ruth perched upon his chair-arm, her strong 
young hand laid caressingly upon his blue- 
veined one. 

“ Never mind, darling; I’ll deal with it,” she 
assured him. “ Tell me all about it. Who is 
this mysterious person in the kitchen? ” 

“ It’s the man who came to see Wang,” he 
answered hesitantly. “ Sailor Jim, he calls 
himself.” 

“ That man! ” Ruth could not hide the dis¬ 
taste in her voice. “ What did he come here 
for?” 

“ He says,” Dr. Curtis answered slowly, 
“ that Wang sent him.” 

“ Wang? But why? ” 

“ I’m afraid I don’t understand it myself,” 
the old man confessed. “ Wang seems to have 


106 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


felt that we were in need of protection after he 
left us and to have sent this man to take his 
place. He was a ship’s cook at one time — 
Jim, I mean — and professes to be very com¬ 
petent about the lawn and garden. I believe 
he said the mandarin Chu Hi once employed 
him in that capacity. He says that he asks no 
wages beyond his keep and that he will try in 
every way to fill Wang’s place in the house¬ 
hold.” 

“ Well, we don’t want him! ” Ruth answered 
decidedly. “ We’ve gotten along very nicely 
without a cook — or a gardener, either. The 
idea of his just moving in on us like that! I 
suppose you were too tender-hearted to tell him 
he couldn’t. Never mind; you leave it to me. 
I’ll attend to him.” 

She started to rise, but the Doctor stopped 
her. “ You’re forgetting, dear,” he said 
mildly. “ Our faithful old Wang sent this 
man to us; we can’t turn him away as though he 
were some strange tramp. Wang never did 
anything without a motive, as you well know. 
I confess I can’t see why we should require 
protection, but he was very insistent on that 
point. It’s all very mysterious, but — ” 































\ 


THE SAILOR’S RETURN 109 

“ I should say it is! ” Ruth agreed. “ Pro¬ 
tection from what? We haven’t any enemies, 
and there’s nothing here to steal. Why should 
any one have to protect us? " 

“ It’s very perplexing,” the Doctor answered. 
“ I wondered if perhaps it could have anything 
to do with our young guests ? You know of no 
danger that threatens you or your mother, my 
dears? ” 

“ Heavens, no, nothing half so romantic! ” 
Babs answered promptly. “ The only danger 
we’ve ever had to worry about was the wolf at 
the door, and Mumsy’s always been able to deal 
with him! I’m sure it’s nothing to do with us, 
Doctor.” 

“ Really, I feel quite upset about it.” The 
old man passed his hand wearily across his fore¬ 
head. “ If it is true that the household is in 
danger — yes, I know, dear, it’s a fantastic 
idea, but I’ve had good reason to respect 
Wang’s judgment. A learned man, in his own 
way, and not given to idle fancies. What was 
I saying? Yes, yes. I’m not so young as I 
was, and not, I fear, physically adequate to deal 
with — well, emergencies. A household of 
women, too. This Sailor Jim seems a person 




110 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


of extraordinary physical strength. Perhaps 
it might be as well — ” 

His thin old voice sounded so distressed that 
Ruth felt a pang of remorse. “ You mean you 
want him to stay, Granther? But, darling, of 
course he shall if that’s the way you feel.” 

She motioned warningly to Babs, who had 
opened her lips to speak. “ We won’t talk any 
more now,” she went on soothingly. “ We’ll 
give Jim a trial and see how it works out, any¬ 
way. And now, how about luncheon? I’m 
sure it must be ready.” 

She helped the old Doctor to his feet and led 
the way to the dining-room, Molly and Barbara 
following. 

As soon as they were seated, Sailor Jim en¬ 
tered with a tray. He had made himself spick 
and span in one of Wang’s white jackets and 
was smiling cheerfully. 

“ Mornin’, miss and young misses,” he said, 
in the voice that Babs mentally described as 
“ oily.” “ I reckon I give you a surprise, didn’t 
I? Me and the Doc here fixed it all up. My 
old buddy Wang sez to me, he sez — ” he flipped 
a smoking hot waffle deftly on to Ruth’s plate 
— “ ‘ Jim,’ the old heathen sez, 4 1 can’t sleep 


THE SAILOR’S RETURN 111 

nights for thinkin’ of the pore old gent an’ the 
little lady left all alone with no one to pertect 
’em. They need a strong man in that house, 
Jim, old boy,’ he sez, ‘ an’ I’d take it mighty 
kindly if you’d cut along and keep an eye on 
’em for me.’ Well, nobody never claimed that 
Sailor Jim wa’n’t a man to oblige his friends. 
I had a good berth on the old John J but I 
never thought twice about givin’ it up. ‘ Wang,’ 
I sez, ‘ you can count on Sailor Jim.’ So — ” 

“ Yes, Jim, that was very nice of you,” Ruth 
cut in. Her tone was civil but not enthusiastic. 
“ We’ll try to make your work as light as possi¬ 
ble. And now, if you’d just serve the salad— ? ” 

“ O. K., miss, cornin’ up.” Ruth’s manner, 
however, seemed to have checked his flow of con¬ 
versation, and, after serving the meal, he re¬ 
tired to the kitchen. 

As soon as luncheon was over, Dr. Curtis 
went to his room for an afternoon nap. Ordi¬ 
narily the old gentleman vigorously resisted 
Ruth’s efforts to induce him to rest, but the 
events of the morning had upset him. Ruth 
lingered to draw the shades and make him com¬ 
fortable and then hurried out to join Molly and 
Babs in the pagoda. 


CHAPTER X 


THE MYSTERY DEEPENS 

The Chinese studies suffered that afternoon. 
None of the girls felt like discussing anything 
but the strange newcomer to the household. 

“ I wouldn’t have let him stay a minute,” 
Ruth declared. “ As soon as Granther told us 
who he was, I meant to go straight out to the 
kitchen and tell him he’d have to move on. 
But you saw how it was, girls. He had Gran¬ 
ther all worked up over some imaginary dan¬ 
ger. If I’d made Jim go away, the poor dear 
would worry night and day for fear something 
might happen — I just couldn’t have that. 
We’ll have to put up with him for a while, 
that’s all.” 

“ It was the only thing you could do,” Molly 
agreed. “ Maybe after a bit, when your grand¬ 
father sees that nothing happens — and of 

112 



THE MYSTERY DEEPENS 113 

course nothing will! Or are we perfectly sure 
of that? You don’t think there’s anything in 
this protection business, do you, Ruth? ” 

“No, I don’t. I can’t imagine what Wang 
was thinking of! He was the last person in the 
world to be afraid of burglars or tramps, even 
for us. And he knows that everybody in the 
county loves Granther — I simply can’t under¬ 
stand it! It doesn’t sound a bit like him, send¬ 
ing that man to ‘ protect ’ us.” 

“ Did Wang say anything about it before he 
left? ” Barbara asked. “ I mean, that he 
wanted you to have a protector and would 
send you one? ” 

Ruth shook her head. “ He never even 
hinted at such a thing. And that’s funny, too. 
If Granther and I are in some sort of danger, 
something that Wang knows about but we 
don’t, you’d think he’d have warned us then. 
After all, he’s been gone a month, and no one 
has bothered us. No one’s protected us, either. 
How does Wang know that whatever he feared 
didn’t happen before his man got here? ” 

“ It’s certainly queer,” Molly agreed. 
“ Rather exciting, too, don’t you think? ‘ She 
lived in the shadow of an unknown danger 5 — 



114 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


no, 4 menace ’ sounds thrillier, or do you prefer 
4 terror? 5 What’s your choice, Babs? ” 

44 Oh, 4 terror,’ by all means,” Barbara an¬ 
swered promptly. 44 Only somehow I can’t 
imagine Ruthie losing sleep over any of them. 
Sailor Jim should have made you the menaced 
heroine, Sis; you’d play up to it a lot better.” 

44 Well, maybe I am,” Molly answered hope¬ 
fully. 44 He said this house needed a strong 
man’s protection, didn’t he? Maybe the terror 
is hanging over me! ” 

44 Wang would be sure to know all about 
your secret enemies, of course! ” Babs replied 
scornfully. 44 That won’t wash, Sis. Little as 
you like it, you’ll have to hand over the star part 
to Ruth or the Doctor. You and I are just 
atmosphere around here.” 

44 1 suppose you’re right,” Molly answered 
reluctantly. Then, as she casually glanced at 
Ruth, her tone changed. 44 Ruthie, dear, you 
aren’t taking this seriously? You said you 
didn’t believe there was anything in it! ” 

44 1 know I did,” Ruth answered slowly. 
44 But the more I think about it, the more it 
worries me. What did Wang send Sailor Jim 
here for? It wasn’t because he thought we 


THE MYSTERY DEEPENS 115 

might be nervous without an able-bodied man 
around the place; Wang knew us better than 
that. And Wang certainly wasn’t the nervous 
type himself. If he thought we needed protec¬ 
tion, it was because he knew something — some¬ 
thing special, I mean. And, to save my life, 
I can’t see why he didn’t tell us! The whole 
thing isn’t the least bit like him.” 

“ I’ll tell you the queerest thing about it to 
me,” Babs broke in. “ It’s Wang’s being so 
chummy with Sailor Jim. Calling him ‘ Jim, 
old boy ’ and all that. It doesn’t sound nat¬ 
ural. You say Wang was fond of me, Ruthie, 
but I’d have fallen in a heap if he’d ever called 
me 4 Babs, old girl.’ No, I can’t see it.” 

“She’s right, Ruth!” Molly exclaimed. 
“ It’s hard to imagine Wang’s being so intimate 
with a man like Sailor Jim. Yet he must have 
been to send him here.” 

“If he did!” Babs exclaimed suddenly. 
“ Girls, here’s something we haven’t thought of. 
Suppose Wang didn't send Jim here to protect 
us? Suppose Jim just made it up? After 
all, we’ve only got his word for it.” 

Ruth looked startled. “ But what would he 
do that for? And what do you mean he made 



116 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

up, Babs? That Wang wanted him to pro¬ 
tect us? Or that Wang wanted him to come 
at all? Either way it doesn’t make sense.” 

“ Well, it doesn’t make sense the way he tells 
it, either,” Babs defended her new theory. 
“ And I don’t know just what I do mean, ex¬ 
cept that we don’t necessarily have to believe 
every word Sailor Jim says. Let’s see, now. 
If we agree that he’s not above twisting things 
around to suit himself, what have we got? 
Either that Wang did send him, but not for 
protection — for some other reason of Wang’s 
own. Or — that Wang didn’t send him at all 
and that he — Jim, I mean — came here for 
some mysterious reason of his own and made up 
that story so you’d let him stay. Which sounds 
the likelier? ” 

Ruth shook her head helplessly, and it was 
Molly who answered after a brief, thoughtful 
pause. 

“ The one about Wang, I think. He could 
have had some reason for wanting Jim to be 
here, and I can’t imagine any reason why Jim 
would want it by himself. But what — oh, I 
wonder, Ruth!” She hesitated a minute as 
though gathering her thoughts together. 





THE MYSTERY DEEPENS 117 

“ Well, go on,” Ruth encouraged her. “ If 
you’ve got a glimmer of an idea, it’s more than 
I have.” 

“ It may not be much, but how’s this? The 
mysterious riddle — could it have anything to 
do with that? Suppose Wang sent Jim to 
watch and find out if you worked it ? Would he 
be likely to do that? ” 

Ruth’s face fell. “ I’d be disappointed if 
he did,” she answered slowly. “ Sailor Jim! 
It would be different if Wang had asked me to 
send my solution to him or to — oh, say some 
Chinese scholar in this country or something like 
that. But to put a spy in my own home to 
watch what I was doing — no, I can’t believe it 
of Wang! It sounds too sneaky. He trusted 
me to work out the riddle in my own way if I 
could. He’d never think of checking up to see 
if I did it or how I did it; that wouldn’t be like 
him. I’m sure you’re wrong there, Molly.” 

“I’m sorry, Ruth; I didn’t think how it would 
sound,” Molly answered contritely. “ You’re 
right, of course. Well, that theory’s out. 
What do you think, Babs? ” 

“ I think Sailor Jim’s just a common or gar¬ 
den liar from start to finish,” Babs answered 



118 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


calmly. “ And that the quickest way of get¬ 
ting at the truth is to believe the opposite of 
everything he told us. Wang did not beg £ Jim, 
old boy ’ to come and look after us — and most 
likely doesn’t even know that he’s doing it. 
That’s what 1 think! More than that, I be¬ 
lieve I’m right.” 

“ But, honey, that leaves it all as mysterious 
as ever,” Ruth said helplessly. “ There was 
some point to Jim’s coming if Wang asked him 
to; there’s none at all to his coming if he didn’t. 
He gave up his job on the ship, where he was 
getting paid, to work for us for nothing. You 
surely don’t think he’s doing it just out of kind¬ 
ness of heart? ” 

“ I should say not! ” Babs answered emphat¬ 
ically. “ If there’s one thing I don’t believe in, 
it’s Jim’s kind heart. Isn’t it funny how we all 
have it in for him? ” she added musingly. “ It 
could be that way, you know, and it would ex¬ 
plain everything. Even if Wang didn’t worry 
about you and your Granther’s having no one to 
look after you, his dear friend Jim might worry 
and volunteer his services. There are people in 
the world as self-sacrificing and generous as all 
that, I suppose. Only nothing would convince 


THE MYSTERY DEEPENS 119 

me that Sailor Jim is one of them,” she said 
darkly. 

“ Nor me! ” Ruth gave a weary little sigh. 
“ It’s all a hopeless tangle, and I don’t know 
what to think. Oh, I wish Wang had never 
left us! ” 

Her voice sounded so forlorn that Molly 
glanced warningly at her sister. *' £ Oh, well, 
we’ve worried our heads enough for to-day! ” 
she said cheerfully. “ There’s probably some 
perfectly simple explanation of all this mys¬ 
tery. We don’t really know Sailor Jim yet, 
anyway — maybe he has a heart of gold, after 
all. At least lie’s relieving you of the cooking in 
this hot weather, Ruth; you can be grateful for 
that.” 

“ And doing very well at it, too,” Babs chimed 
in. “ He may be a villain of the deepest dye 
— I’m sure he is! — but he’s no slouch with 
the waffle-iron. All I hope is that he doesn’t 
make his getaway till I’ve had enough waffles 
to do me for the rest of my life! ” 


CHAPTER XI 


A QUEER GOLDILOCKS 

Prejudiced though they were, the girls could 
not deny that Sailor Jim proved useful around 
the house. He was an excellent cook and kept 
the grounds in perfect order. 

Yet their dislike persisted. Jim had an an¬ 
noying habit of familiar conversation, and 
Ruth’s gentle snubs seemed to have little effect 
on him. She was determined to make the best 
of his presence, but she could not bring herself 
to accept him on the friendly footing that Wang 
had enjoyed. The more she saw of him, the 
harder it was to imagine him as the self- 
sacrificing friend he claimed to be; and the dis¬ 
turbing question, “ What does he want here? ” 
was never out of her mind. 

One of the most irritating things about Sailor 
Jim was his fondness for the pagoda — the 
“ joss-house,” he called it. On his second after- 

120 


A QUEER GOLDILOCKS 121 

noon the girls were at work there when Jim ap¬ 
peared in the open door, bearing a pail and 
scrubbing brushes. 

“ I just thought, seem’ as how I got some 
free time on my hands, I’d give the joss-house 
a good cleanin’,” he remarked genially. “ If 
you young ladies won’t mind takin’ your books 
to the veranda, now, I’ll get her all slick as a 
whistle for you.” 

Barbara cast an indignant glance at Ruth, 
who answered with quiet dignity, “Not just 
now, I think, Jim. We always study here in 
the afternoons, and we’d rather not be inter¬ 
rupted.” 

“No offense,” he answered cheerfully. “ I 
aim to please, miss. What time will you be get- 
tin’ through here? Mebbe I can work it in 
afore dinner.” 

“ Thanks, Jim, but you needn’t bother,” 
Ruth replied. “ I always clean the pagoda my¬ 
self, anyway. You might do the bathroom 
floor if you have time now.” 

“ Oh, well, just as you say, miss.” His tone 
was distinctly sulky as he turned toward the 
house. 

Wang had used the pagoda frequently for 


122 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


reading or quiet meditation after his work was 
done. Ruth had always been glad to have him 
share it. But it was decidedly annoying a few 
days later to find that Sailor Jim looked upon it 
as his personal sitting-room. Several times 
the girls found him lounging in the window- 
seat when they went down for evening “ up¬ 
sets.” He apologized profusely and hurried 
away, but, as Babs put it, he “ disturbed the 
air.” The smell of his strong pipe hung about 
the dainty curtains, and the mere fact that he 
sat there so often seemed to spoil the charming 
privacy of the little house. 

He was quite deaf to Ruth’s hints, and it 
seemed a small thing to make a fuss about. But 
in the second week of his stay the girls made 
rather a startling discovery. 

“ I know it’s so,” Babs insisted. “ I’ve been 
suspicious before, but this time I’m certain. I 
put the books away myself yesterday in the 
teakwood chest. And I know I put Li Po on 
the bottom of the pile and the Eight Immortals 
on top. Now look, Ruth! There are the Im¬ 
mortals down near the bottom and Li Po on top. 
Somebody has been rummaging in this chest.” 

“ Yes, and here’s something else,” Molly con- 


A QUEER GOLDILOCKS 123 

tributed. “ We haven’t made tea since we had 
to buy it from the grocery, have we? But I 
put the new tea into the caddy when it came, 
and screwed the lid down tight. Now look at 
it. The lid’s just lying on the caddy, not fast¬ 
ened down at all. Somebody has been poking 
around in your things, Ruth.” 

“ Sounds a little like the Three Bears,” Babs 
giggled. “ Only there’s a difference. We 
know who our Goldilocks is.” 

“ Sailor Jim! ” Ruth’s eyes flashed with in¬ 
dignation. “ Really, girls, this is too much! 
It’s bad enough for him to make himself at home 
in here with his horrid old pipe, but to go 
poking and prying — well, I just won’t have 
it! ” 

“ I don’t blame you!” Barbara exclaimed. 
“ I wouldn’t have it, either. What’ll you do? 
Tell him to keep out? ” 

“ I’ve done that as politely as I could,” Ruth 
answered. “ He knows I don’t want him in 
here. No, I sha’n’t tell him anything. I’ll 
simply keep the place locked all the time we’re 
not in it. And I’ll take the key up to my 
room. That’ll settle it.” 

“ Mercy, you sound positively vicious! Hon- 



124 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


estly, Ruthie, I didn’t know you had it in you. 
You’re always so peaceable and afraid of hurt¬ 
ing some one’s feelings — it’s a relief to see 
you explode sometimes.” 

Ruth laughed a little. “ I suppose it’s silly 
to be so upset, but I can’t help it. The pagoda’s 
always been my very own, and it makes me 
furious to think of some one’s coming in like 
that. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.” 

“ What do you suppose he did it for? ” Molly 
inquired. “ Idle curiosity? ” 

“ I suppose so. Just snooping. There’s 
nothing here to steal.” 

“We might look around, though,” Barbara 
put in. “ Just to make sure nothing’s gone. 
I wouldn’t put it past Sailor Jim to take any¬ 
thing he happened to fancy.” 

Following her suggestion, the three girls 
made a quick search of the pagoda. Their 
eyes, sharpened now by suspicion, noted many 
things out of place. It was increasingly clear 
that the room had been thoroughly rummaged. 
But, so far as they could see, nothing was 
missing. 

They locked the door and returned to the 
house. Ruth, instead of hanging the key on 



A QUEER GOLDILOCKS 125 

its usual nail in the kitchen, put it in her pocket. 
“ And here it’s going to stay! ” she said firmly. 

They passed the kitchen door where Sailor 
Jim was busy with preparations for dinner, and 
followed the path around the house to the 
veranda. There they found Dr. Curtis read¬ 
ing in a long deck-chair. ITe looked up with 
a welcoming smile. 

“ Ah, girls, and how go the studies? ” 

They had told him of their work, but not of 
its object. Ruth had shown him Wang’s mes¬ 
sage before she discussed it with Molly and 
Barbara. He had read in it only a rather flow¬ 
ery wish for his granddaughter’s happiness, and 
Ruth had not felt it wise to tell him afterward 
that she believed it might have some deeper 
meaning. There was time enough for that if 
she succeeded in deciphering it. If she failed, 
there was no need for him to suffer in her dis¬ 
appointment. Ruth was very careful always 
to preserve a peaceful atmosphere for the old 
gentleman and never to bring to him any wor¬ 
ries that could be avoided. 

For the same reason, she did not mention her 
annoyance over Jim’s invasion of the pagoda. 
Instead, she dropped to a step at his feet and 


126 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


began a cheerful account of the story she had 
translated that afternoon. 

Barbara and Molly joined in the chat for a 
few minutes and then excused themselves. 
They had formed the habit of walking down to 
The Hope Chest just before closing-time to 
stroll home with their mother. 

Mrs. Bronson’s shop was doing nicely, but 
the responsibility and the long hours were a 
continuing strain. Their brisk, cheery mother 
never complained, but the girls realized that she 
was unusually tired when she came home. So, 
for reasons very similar to Ruth’s, they had 
said nothing to her of the perplexities which had 
followed Wang’s departure. 

Barbara was reflecting on this as she strolled 
beside her sister down the tree-lined street in the 
direction of Mrs. Bronson’s shop. 

“ Isn’t it funny what a lot of secrets have 
cropped up lately? ” she observed. “ We’re 
keeping all this business secret from Mummy 
— I mean about Wang’s riddle and Sailor Jim’s 
odd actions. Ruth’s keeping it from her Gran- 
ther. Sailor Jim is keeping his secret, what¬ 
ever it is, from us. And then there’s Wang’s 
secret, which seems to be kept from everybody. 


A QUEER GOLDILOCKS 127 

Seems to me the air around here is just thick 
with secrets.” 

Molly nodded soberly. “ I know, and they 
seem to be getting deeper all the time. If Ruth 
could only find the answer to Wang’s riddle! 
Somehow, I can’t help thinking that that would 
be the answer to everything.” 

“ But I don’t see how it could,” Babs argued. 
“ Sailor Jim hasn’t anything to do with the 
riddle, and he's the big mystery right now. 
What did he come here for? What is he look¬ 
ing for in the pagoda? Did Wang send him, 
and why? Is there an unknown danger that 
Ruth and her Granther must be guarded 
against? Why — ” 

“ Darling, stop!” Laughing, Molly put 
her hands to her ears. “ I can’t answer any of 
them, and when you reel them off like that, it 
makes my head spin. Let’s talk about some¬ 
thing simple and refreshing for a change.” 

“ All right, let’s,” Babs agreed. “ How 
about ice-cream soda? That’s both. And the 
only mystery about it is whether Mums will say 
‘ Certainly not. It’s too close to dinner time.’ ” 


CHAPTER XII 


SAILOR JIM IS DISPLEASED 

It was the pleasant hour after dinner when 
the sun had just set and the long summer twi¬ 
light was softly dropping its mantle of coolness. 
Mrs. Bronson and the Doctor were enjoying it 
on the front veranda, but the three girls were 
lounging in the hammock at the side of the 
house. 

Suddenly Babs sat erect and pinched Ruth. 
“ Look — there goes Sailor Jim to the pagoda. 
He doesn’t know yet that you’ve locked it up. 
Won’t he be furious? ” 

Jim had emerged from the kitchen door. He 
was in his shirt-sleeves, his short black pipe 
clamped between his teeth. Without a glance 
toward the hammock, he sauntered slowly to¬ 
ward the pagoda. 

“ Oh, maybe I shouldn’t have — ” Ruth be¬ 
gan uncertainly, then checked herself. “ I 


128 




SAILOR JIM IS DISPLEASED 129 

don’t care! He can perfectly well smoke his 
pipe on the back porch. Just because he’s 
taken Wang’s job, Jim needn’t think he can do 
everything Wang did.” 

“ I remember we used to find Wang reading 
there when we went down to do our evening 
upsets,” Barbara observed. “ He didn’t smell 
up the place with a nasty old pipe, though, nor 
pry into things.” 

“Do you mind if I ask you something, 
Ruth? ” Molly said diffidently. “ I know how 
fond you were of Wang, and I wouldn’t hurt 
your feelings for anything. But it’s some¬ 
thing I noticed when he was here, that I’ve al¬ 
ways been curious about.” 

“ Why, of course I won’t mind, Molly,” 
Ruth replied. “ What is it? ” 

“ Well,” Molly answered hesitantly, “ Wang 
didn’t smoke a pipe, like Sailor Jim. But — 
maybe I just imagined it. But it seemed to 
me, when we used to go down and find him 
there, that there was a sort of smell in the air 
— a faint, quite pleasant smell — ” 

She hesitated. “ Yes, I know,” Ruth said. 
“ What about it? ” 

“ Well, I just wondered,” Molly floundered. 


130 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


“ I suppose they don’t think anything of it, but 
— Ruth, did Wang smoke opium? ” 

At the horrified tone in which she spoke the 
word, Ruth broke into ringing laughter. “ Oh, 
Molly, you’re priceless! I’m going to speak to 
your mother about your reading — honestly, 
you’re overdoing the thrillers, my dear! What 
was the last one? 4 Limehouse Nights ’? ” 
Molly looked guilty, and Ruth proceeded 
more soberly. “ There are all kinds of Chi¬ 
nese, honey — good and bad, weak ones and 
strong — just as there are of Americans. 
Opium is a common drug over there, and some 
wretched creatures think that it helps them for¬ 
get their troubles. Our authors and movie 
producers have seized upon that and exagger¬ 
ated it till lots of people get the same ridiculous 
notion that you did — that any Chinese gentle¬ 
man is likely to be an opium-user. But I can 
relieve your mind about Wang. That smoky 
odor you noticed about the pagoda was incense. 
Wang went there to say his prayers.” 

“ Oh, my goodness, I’m sorry! ” Molly an¬ 
swered contritely. “ I just didn’t know. 
I’m afraid you’re right about my reading. 
You’ll have to forgive me, Ruth.” 



SAILOR JIM IS DISPLEASED 131 

“ Of course — you can’t be blamed for the 
impressions you get from books. But it does 
make me so furious! About Wang’s religion,” 
she went on more calmly, “I’m just guessing at 
what I said a minute ago. He never told me 
he went to the pagoda for prayers; he never dis¬ 
cussed religion with me at all. You see, he 
knows that I’m a Christian, and he’s a Bud¬ 
dhist. He wouldn’t say the least thing to try 
to turn me from my own faith; Wang was like 
that. But he kept to his own — he was like 
that, too. I know the smell of incense, and I 
know that it’s part of their way of praying, so 
I just figured it out for myself. Wang went 
off quietly for his prayers where he wouldn’t 
disturb anybody, and he never said a word 
about it. I wouldn’t have said anything about 
it, either, if you hadn’t jumped to that crazy 
conclusion.” 

“ Oh, girls, look! ” Babs seized her sister’s 
arm excitedly. “ Sailor Jim’s found out he 
can’t get in, and he’s not pleased a bit.” 

In their discussion they had forgotten to 
watch the sailor. Now, following Barbara’s 
glance, they saw that he was returning along 
the walk, his face dark and lowering. 


132 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

“He wasn’t on his way to prayers, that’s 
sure,” Babs giggled. 

To their surprise, instead of following the 
path to the kitchen door, he hesitated a moment, 
then struck off across the grass in their direc¬ 
tion. As he came, the watching girls could dis¬ 
tinctly see that he was composing his face to 
a pleasanter expression. When he stood be¬ 
fore them, it was with his familiar ingratiating 
smile. 

“ Evenin’, young misses. I see as how 
you’ve locked up the joss-house, Miss Ruth.” 

“ Yes, Jim, I have.” The sisters admired 
the quiet finality of her voice. 

“Yes — yes, I see you did.” He shuffled 
his feet uneasily in the grass, and his voice took 
on a disagreeable whine. 

“ I hope you didn’t take any offense ’cause 
I went there for a quiet smoke sometimes, miss? 
A poor hard-workin’ sailor-man has mighty few 
pleasures, and I kinda liked the little joss- 
house. Reminded me of China, it did, where 
I’ve spent most o’ me days since I went to sea. 
No ’arm intended, I’m sure.” 

“ Certainly not, Jim,” Ruth answered de¬ 
murely, but there was a wicked edge in her voice 



SAILOR JIM IS DISPLEASED 133 

as she added, “ Have you ever tried smoking 
your pipe on the back steps? You can see the 
pagoda from there, and it will remind you of 
China all the more, for I suppose you spent 
more time outside of pagodas than in them, 
didn’t you? ” 

He gave her a venomous glance, but his voice 
was smooth enough as he answered, “ Mebbe 
there’s somethin’ in what you say, miss. I’ll 
try it that way. Evenin’, all.” 

Deliberately he lighted his pipe, and it seemed 
to the girls that the dragons tattooed on his 
wrists writhed malignantly in the red glare of 
the match. Then, without another word, he 
turned away and slouched toward the kitchen. 

Before they could comment upon the scene, 
Mrs. Bronson came around the house. 

“If you girls will all come up to my room, 
I’ve a surprise for somebody,” she said cheer¬ 
fully. “ I don’t know just who’s the lucky 
one, though.” 

“ Oh, Mumsy, is it a dress? ” Molly sprang 
to her feet. “ You said, if no one bought that 
pale rose organdie, I could have it. Is it the or¬ 
gandie, Mums? ” 

Mrs. Bronson shook her head. “ I still have 


134 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


hopes of a cash customer there, chicken. No, 
this is a sports frock in wash silk — Roman 
stripes, and very gorgeous. That pretty Hen¬ 
derson girl bought it — or, at least, she made 
a deposit on it. It had to be altered a lot; she 
has broad shoulders and an unusually slender 
waist, and the ready-mades don’t come like 
that. Well, she tried it on after we got it to 
fit, and then she decided there were too many 
colors, and she wouldn’t take it, after all. That 
leaves me with a perfectly good dress on my 
hands I can never sell. So I thought if one 
of you could wear it — ” 

“ Oh, I hope I can! ” Barbara followed her 
mother eagerly, for the mention of sports frocks 
always excited her. 

Once upstairs, however, the first glance at 
the dress dispelled Barbara’s hopes. It was 
much too long and, as she regretfully admitted, 
too old for her. Neither did it suit Molly in 
color or design. 

“ Well, Ruth — ” Mrs. Bronson slipped it 
over the shining chestnut head. “ Turn around, 
child, and let me see. H-m-m, too wide in the 
shoulders, of course, but we can fix that. It’s 
the waist that can’t be changed now — and 


SAILOR JIM IS DISPLEASED 135 

thank heaven, it doesn’t need to be! Yes, it’s 
perfect. I guess you’re the owner, dear.” 

“ Oh, Mrs. Bronson, I couldn’t take it!” 
Ruth protested, but her fascinated eyes sought 
the mirror. The vivid stripes on a creamy 
ground brought out all the color in her cheeks; 
except for a slight bunchiness at the shoulders, 
the lines were perfect on her. 

“ I’ve never had anything like it,” Ruth said 
simply. “ It’s the most adorable thing I ever 
saw. But you don’t really mean — ” 

“ Of course I do. Why, child, you’re just 
like another daughter to me. Can’t I make you 
a little gift if I want to? There, now, skip 
down and ask the Doctor how he likes it.” 

Ruth gave her an impulsive hug. “ Oh, 
you’re such a darling! Thanks, a thousand 
times. Come on, girls, let’s open Granther’s 
eyes.” 

They found the old Doctor alone on the 
veranda. It was dark now, and Ruth switched 
on the porch light as she came through the door. 
The old man looked up with his usual welcom¬ 
ing smile, but the hand that he laid on the 
shimmering silk was shaking. 

“ Very nice, dear,” he said. “ I hope you 


136 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


thanked Mrs. Bronson properly. She is a good 
friend to you, Ruthie, a good friend.” 

His voice quavered alarmingly, and the joy¬ 
ous excitement faded from Ruth’s face. 

“ Aren’t you well, Granther? ” she asked 
anxiously. “ Come and let me get you to bed; 
it’s damp out here.” 

“ I’m all right, child. It’s — I’ve been a 
little upset, that’s all. Such a pack of non¬ 
sense ; I couldn’t make head nor tail of it. Why 
couldn’t the man tell a straight story? ” 

“ What man? ” Then instinctively Ruth 
supplied the answer to her own question. 
“ Sailor Jim! Has he been bothering you, 
Granther? What did he want? ” 

Sit down, girls.” The old gentleman mo¬ 
tioned to the porch steps. “ I’ll tell you all 
about it.” 

He waited until they had found cushions at 
his feet, and then began: “Jim came out here 
right after Mrs. Bronson went upstairs. First 
he had a complaint to make. He said that you 
were keeping the pagoda locked up, Ruth, and 
that he didn’t see why he couldn’t be allowed to 
sit there and smoke his pipe. He seemed quite 
put out about it. I told him, of course, that 


SAILOR JIM IS DISPLEASED 137 

Wang built the pagoda for you and that you 
had a perfect right to do as you pleased with it. 
Well, he got almost violent, my dear. Tried 
to insist that I make you let him use it. I had 
to speak quite sharply to him.” 

Ruth smiled tenderly. “I’ll bet you scared 
him to death, you old fire-eater! Well, I guess 
we’ve settled him, between us. Come on to 
bed, darling, and don’t give him another 
thought.” 

The old gentleman held up his hand. “ Wait 
— that isn’t all. Ruthie, do you know any¬ 
thing about a jade box containing a string of 
pearls? ” 


CHAPTER XIII 

IS IT LIKELY? 

“ Heavens, no! ” Ruth stared at him. “All 
the pearls I’ve had anything to do with were 
the dime-store kind. What did he mean, 
Granther? ” 

“ I don’t know. It was all so confused — 
really, I wondered if the man had suddenly 
gone mad. I do wish Wang hadn’t left us. 
I’m not used to such disturbances.” 

“ Oh, well, you mustn’t pay any attention to 
him,” Ruth answered soothingly. “ Can you 
tell us just what he said? Then I’ll talk to 
him and tell him he can’t stay here if he’s going 
to upset you like this.” 

“ I hardly know now what he did say,” the 
old Doctor answered. “ Let me see if I can 
straighten it out. First about not being al¬ 
lowed in the pagoda — I told you that. And 
then, after I’d rebuked him, he came closer and 


138 


IS IT LIKELY? 


139 


stuck his ugly face right into mine — really, 
he is a most unpleasant person. I can’t think 
why Wang ever sent him to us.” 

“ Yes, dear,” Ruth urged. “ And what did 
he say? ” 

“ Why, something about two heads being 
better than one. He said it was plain we hadn’t 
found ‘ the stuff ’ and that he would frankly 
admit he hadn’t either. Then he launched into 
an extravagant explanation of why he was 
searching — all to help us, of course, and to sur¬ 
prise us with good news. I hope I’m not a sus¬ 
picious man, my dear, but it sounded most im¬ 
probable. I simply can’t see Sailor Jim in the 
role of a good fairy.” 

“Nor I!” Ruth agreed emphatically. 
“ But, Granther, go on. What was he get¬ 
ting at? ” 

“ I can only tell you what he said, my dear; 
I can’t attempt to reconcile it with common 
sense. He seemed to know, and to assume that 
we knew, that Wang had left some fabulous 
treasure hidden in the pagoda. He has been 
unable to locate it himself and seemed sure that 
we also have failed. So he proposes that we 
join forces. Or, rather, that he and I do so. 



140 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


He was very emphatic about not ‘ letting a pack 
of kids mess into it.’ Those were his rather 
inelegant words, Ruth. He tried to make me 
promise that I wouldn’t speak of it to you until 
the pagoda had been torn down.” 

“ Torn down! My pagoda! Granther, what 
are you talking about? ” 

“ Why, you see, dear, that was his plan for 
finding the treasure. He was sure that Wang 
had hidden it there, and, as a thorough search 
had failed to locate it, he thought the place 
should be taken apart, piece by piece. It could 
hardly escape coming to light then.” 

“ I never heard of such a thing! ” Ruth an¬ 
swered indignantly. “ Wait till I see Mr. 
Sailor Jim again! If I don’t tell him a few 
things — ” 

“ But what about the pearls, Doctor? ” 
Molly put in. “ Oh, this is exciting! Did he 
say that the treasure consisted of pearls ? How 
did he know? ” 

“ Why, he says that he brought them over 
when he came for Wang — that the mandarin 
Chu Hi entrusted them to him. A string of 
perfect pearls in a carved box of white jade, 

i 

and worth a great deal of money, he says. He 


141 


IS IT LIKELY? 

offered, as a proof of his honesty, his turning 
them over to Wang safely, but I’m not much 
impressed by that. Chu Hi’s arm is long, and 
I daresay Jim would have been in grave peril, 
had he attempted to run away with the pearls 
before they reached their destination.” 

“ But what makes him think they’re here? ” 
asked Barbara interestedly. “ If the mandarin 
sent them to Wang, why, Wang probably took 
them with him.” 

“ Sailor Jim has an excellent reason for 
knowing that Wang did not take them,” 
the Doctor answered. “ He confessed quite 
brazenly that on the train to San Francisco he 
searched Wang’s pockets while he slept. Oh, 
of course he offered an excuse — he was afraid 
that Wang would be robbed, and wanted to 
make sure that the pearls were safe. That’s 
rather thin, I’m afraid.” 

“ Well, my goodness, he is a villain! ” Babs 
exclaimed delightedly. “ Aren’t you excited, 
Buth? A villain and a treasure right here in 
your own house? Oh, this is better than a 
movie! 

“ No, I’m not excited; I’m just plain mad! ” 
Ruth replied. “ The idea of trying to get 



142 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


Granther to tear down my pagoda — and be¬ 
hind my back! It makes me boil! ” 

“ I know, but the treasure, honey — aren’t 
you excited about that? Priceless pearls in 
your own pagoda — think of it! ” 

Ruth shook her head scornfully. “ Who can 
believe anything that creature says ? He’s just 
annoyed because I wouldn’t let him sit in the 
pagoda, and out of pure spite he tried to get 
Granther to tear it down. He made up all that 
stuff about the treasure just for an excuse.” 

Barbara’s face fell. “ Oh, Ruth, do you 
think so? Well, I suppose you’re right; it 
sounds too good to be true. What are you go¬ 
ing to do now? ” 

Ruth was pale but determined. “ I’m go¬ 
ing to discharge Sailor Jim the first thing to¬ 
morrow morning. I don’t know why Wang 
wanted him to be here, but I’m sure Wang 
wouldn’t expect us to keep him after the way 
he’s acted. You feel that way, too, don’t you, 
Granther ? You’re not to worry yourself about 
it; I’ll attend to everything. And now, dear, 
if you’re ready to go upstairs — ” 

“ Just about. But before I go — ” there 
was a twinkle in the old gentleman’s eye now. 



IS IT LIKELY? 


143 


“ Ruthie, dear, would you mind stating to your 
young friends here just what relation I happen 
to be to you? It is possible that they are labor¬ 
ing under a misapprehension.” 

Ruth stared. “ What do you mean, dear? 
They know you’re my darling Granther.” 

“ Thank you. You hear that, girls? You 
see she admits that I’m not really her two-year- 
old son, after all. It’s just her way of man¬ 
aging me that gives you that impression.” 

“ Granther! ” There was mirthful vexation 
in Ruth’s voice. “ When I was only trying to 
spare you — ” 

“ I know, dear. Merely my little joke. Just 
leading up, as gently as possible, to my final 
news. I discharged Sailor Jim myself this 
evening. I told him, of course, that he was 
free to remain here until he could make other 
arrangements. However, he informed me 
very huffily that he was never one to stay where 
he wasn’t wanted and that he would clear out 
the first thing to-morrow morning.” 

“ Why, Granther! ” Ruth gasped. “ Well, 
bless your heart! Maybe I’m not running this 
house, after all.” 

“ You do very well at it, my dear,” the Doc- 


144 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


tor answered. “ But occasionally a situation 
comes up that needs a man’s firm hand. Now 
let’s put that scoundrel out of our minds.” He 
rose to his feet. “ I believe, and I sincerely 
hope, that we’ve seen the last of Sailor Jim.” 


CHAPTER XIV 


A SPLENDID DREAM 

“ But I just hate to think there aren’t any 
pearls,” Babs said wistfully. 

It was the following afternoon. No trace 
of Sailor Jim had remained when the household 
wakened that morning. Ruth had gladly taken 
up her duties again, with the assistance of Bar¬ 
bara and Molly. They were late in arriving at 
the pagoda, and it developed that no one felt 
particularly like studying. 

“But, Babs, it’s such an unlikely story,” 
Ruth argued. “ If the mandarin sent pearls 
to Wang, he’d have taken them with him, or 
else given them to Granther to look after. 
Why should he hide them in the pagoda? He 
doesn’t mean to come back. There wouldn’t 
be any sense in it. No, I think my theory’s the 
right one. Jim wanted the pagoda torn down 
out of pure spite for me, and he invented that 
story to get Granther to do it.” 

145 


146 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


“ He didn’t know the Doctor very well, did 
he? ” Babs chuckled. “ I’d love to have heard 
what he said to Jim.” 

“ Ruth, I think you’re wrong,” Molly said 
thoughtfully. “ I believe the pearls do exist 
and are for you to find.” 

“ Oh, well, you would,” Ruth answered with 
good-natured scorn. “ I suppose the mysteri¬ 
ous Chinamen in those books you read hide 
priceless pearls in every corner.” 

“ No, seriously, I mean it,” Molly protested. 
“ It explains a lot. We’ve been puzzling our 
heads over Jim’s reason for coming here, and 
the pearls make a perfectly good one. I 
couldn’t imagine his doing it out of pure kind¬ 
ness of heart, but I can imagine his taking any 
amount of trouble if there was something to be 
gained by it.” 

“You think he wanted the pearls — if there 
are any — for himself? ” 

“ I’ll tell you exactly what I think.” Molly 
sat up and spoke with conviction. “ I don’t 
believe that Wang sent Sailor Jim here or even 
knew he was coming. I do believe that Jim 
brought the pearls with the mandarin’s mes¬ 
sage. Perhaps Wang told him that he meant 


A SPLENDID DREAM 147 

to leave them hidden here — why, I can’t imag¬ 
ine. But just suppose he did.” 

“ Maybe Wang didn’t tell him,” Babs put in 
interestedly. “ I can’t see him confiding in 
Jim, some way. But Jim knew he had the 
pearls, and he made sure on the train that he 
wasn’t taking them away with him. Then — 
let’s see. Jim could have sneaked down the 
hall while he was supposed to be waiting out¬ 
side for Wang to say good-by, and found out 
that Wang didn’t give them to the doctor. I 
wonder what made him think Wang hid them 
in the pagoda? There are plenty of hiding- 
places around this old house besides that.” 

“ He’d had plenty of chances to search 
Wang’s own room — and the rest of the house, 
for that matter, while he was doing the house¬ 
work,” Molly reminded her. “But he was 
with Wang that night and knew where he went 
— oh, I’ve just thought of something! Babs, 
do you remember we saw a light in the pagoda 
when I got up to get a blanket? Wang must 
have been out here then. And Jim knew it, 
and that’s why he’s so sure Wang left the pearls 
in here! ” 

“ Then he saw Wang safely aboard his ship 



148 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


— ” Babs took up the story excitedly — “ and 
came back here. He made up a tale about 
Wang’s sending him, so you’d let him stay, 
Ruth. And he started right away searching 
for the treasure! Once he got it, of course, 
he’d put it in his pocket and quietly fade away. 
Why, Sis, you’re right; that accounts for every¬ 
thing! Jim’s reason for coming, his rummag¬ 
ing around in here, and his fury when we locked 
him out — it all fits in.” 

“ And when you locked up the pagoda, 
Ruth,” Molly finished, “ he saw it was no use 
trying any longer by himself, so he went to 
the Doctor. He thought a share was better 
than nothing. There, Ruthie, that’s my theory. 
What do you think of it? ” 

Ruth smiled. “Not much,” she answered 
candidly. “ It’s a beautiful fairy-tale, and I 
only wish it could be true. But we know it 
isn’t because — well, where are these mysteri¬ 
ous pearls, then? Sailor Jim turned the pa¬ 
goda upside down and couldn’t find them. And 
only yesterday we went over the whole place 
ourselves to see if he’d taken anything. Did 
you notice any pearls about? I didn’t.” 

“ There aren’t many places to look,” Babs 


A SPLENDID DREAM 149 

admitted. “ Just the chest and the book¬ 
shelves— oh, I wonder if Jim thought they 
might be buried in the tea-caddy? Of course 
he did; that’s why he had the lid off. A per¬ 
fectly good hiding-place, too — ” 

“ Except that they’d be found by the first 
person who wanted a cup of tea,” her sister in¬ 
terrupted crushingly. “No, you needn’t get 
up to look, Babs. I put that tea in there my¬ 
self a week ago, and there weren’t any pearls 
rolling around on the bottom then.” 

“ Of course, I forgot,” Babs answered dis¬ 
appointedly. “Well, where else is there?” 
Her eyes roved about the bare little room. 
“ Are there any secret hiding-places here, 
Ruth? In the floor or the walls — ” 

Ruth shook her head. “ I’ve played in here 
since I was three, and I never saw any. There’s 
nothing to it, really, girls. Just a sailor’s yarn. 
Do we have to go on talking about that crea¬ 
ture? He’s gone, and I’m glad of it. All I 
want now is to forget that I ever saw him.” 

“ Well, all right, dear, if you feel that way,” 
Molly agreed reluctantly. “ I suppose we 
ought to get to work, but it’s hard to settle 
down after all the excitement. Besides, Ruth, 



ISO THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

I think I’ve gone just about as far as I can. 
I’ve managed to learn to read Chinese well 
enough to translate some of the simpler stories 
and poems, and I’ve picked up here and there a 
glimmer of meaning in the longer ones. That’s 
a lot more than I’d hoped for, and I’ve enjoyed 
it immensely. But it’s about my limit, without 
a teacher to help.” 

Ruth gave a little sigh. “ I was thinking 
the very same thing, Molly — about myself, 
I mean. I can’t get any farther along with¬ 
out some one who knows more than I do. If 
only Wang could be here now! ” 

“ Do they teach Chinese in colleges? ” Bar¬ 
bara asked. “ American ones, I mean.” 

“ I don’t know about all of them, but there’s 
one that does — Sinai College, where my fa¬ 
ther and mother went. It’s a training-school 
for missionaries, and they have a wonderful 
Chinese department. Their medical school is 
splendid, too; they specialize in Oriental dis¬ 
eases. I wonder — ” her voice sounded sud¬ 
denly shy — “I wonder if you girls would 
laugh if I told you the dream of my life? It’s 
just a dream, and it can never come true; I 
know that now. When I was little, I was 


A SPLENDID DREAM 151 

firmly convinced I could make it come true, 
but, now that I’m older, I know better, and I’ve 
given it up long since. But just the same, if 
I could do what I’d rather do than anything 
else in the world, I’d — I’d — ” 

“ Go on, honey,” Molly urged, as she hesi¬ 
tated. “ We won’t laugh. It can’t be any sil¬ 
lier than my cherished dream of being a famous 
actress — or Barbara’s of being another Helen 
Wills. Tell us!” 

“ Well — ” Ruth laughed a little, but her 
eyes were earnest. “ When I finish high school 
next year, I’ll go into the county hospital for 
a nurse’s training. There’s no money to send 
me to college, and I’ll have to earn my living 
some way. But — if only dreams came true, 
this is what I’d do. I’d go to Sinai College, 
and I’d work my head off to learn to be a doctor. 
And then, when I got my degree, I’d go right 
out to China to their hospital. There’d be a 
place for me, I know. It’s being carried on 
now by native doctors who worked under my 
parents, and they don’t forget. And I’d go 
on with their work — oh, I know it’s all per- 
' fectly impossible! But it’s the one thing in the 
world I’d give anything to do.” 


152 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

Her usually calm eyes were alight, her face 
flushed to beauty with her enthusiasm. 

“ Oh, Ruthie, I wish you could! ” Babs ex¬ 
claimed. “ It’s terrible, being poor. Molly 
and I aren’t a bit sure of college, either. Mumsy 
says of course we’re going, but we’ve already 
decided we’re not if it means a lot of sacrifice for 
her. We’re not going to have her do without 
and wear herself to a shadow in the shop — ” 

“ Hush, kitten!” Molly interrupted her. 
“ Never mind us. Go on, Ruth. Why is it 
so impossible? Is it just the money? ” 

“ That and other things. I couldn’t leave 
Granther to go so far away — he isn’t so young 
any more, and I’m all he has in the world. You 
mustn’t look so sorry for me, girls. I haven’t 
thought of it seriously for years — not since I 
was ten or so. Everything looks so easy when 
you’re that age, you know.” She sighed with 
the pity of grown-up sixteen for the rosy dreams 
of a ten-year-old. 

“ Ruth, listen! ” Molly exclaimed suddenly. 
“ I’ve just had a thought. Did Wang know 
anything about this? ” 

“ Oh, of course,” Ruth answered wonder- 
ingly. “ He was the only one who did. Why, 



A SPLENDID DREAM 153 


he put it into my head in the first place! When 
I was quite tiny, he used to talk about my 
parents’ wonderful work in China and describe 
the hospital and its gardens — it was like a 
picture of fairyland to me. And when I said 
I was going there, too, when I grow up, he hu¬ 
mored me and said of course I was. We used 
to play hospital for hours! ” 

“ What did the Doctor think of the idea? ” 

“ I don’t think I ever told him. He’d given 
my parents to China, you know; I was all he 
had left. I don’t suppose I reasoned it out 
that it would hurt him to know that I planned to 
leave him, too, but I must have felt it. It was a 
little secret game that Wang and I played be¬ 
tween ourselves. This is the first time I’ve told 
any one else.” 

“ Well, I wish you’d told us before! ” Molly 
exclaimed, so vehemently that Ruth looked at 
her in surprise. “ Don’t you see what it means, 
Ruth? You say that Wang painted all those 
beautiful pictures when you were small, and 
put it into your head to want to carry on your 
parents’ work. Don’t you suppose he had a 
. reason for that? Remember that Wang told 
you he was carrying out his master’s orders in 


154 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

staying here. Think, Ruth — think what it 
means! ” 

“ I’m sorry, Molly — I must be awfully stu¬ 
pid. Does it mean anything special? ” 

“ Of course it does! It means that the man¬ 
darin Chu Hi wanted you to come back to China 
to go on with the work your parents began. 
That was why he wanted you to know China, 
as the Chinese do, through their ancient classics. 
And so he had Wang stay here all these years to 
inspire you and teach you — why, it’s perfectly 
clear! ” 

“ I never thought of that! But — but then 
— all that about being the Keeper of the Wall 
fits in! Chu Hi would hand down the old wis¬ 
dom to me, as he would have done to his son if 
he had lived. And I would have been in China, 
keeping the Wall — helping his country — ” 

“ And adding more bricks to the Wall with 
the new knowledge you brought! ” Molly fin¬ 
ished triumphantly. “ Honestly, I’m getting 
so I think in figures of speech myself. But that 
was the idea, Ruth, without a doubt. It’s all 
so plain now; why didn’t we think of it before ? ” 
“ It wouldn’t have done us much good,” 
Ruth answered somberly. “ You’re f orgetting 



A SPLENDID DREAM 155 


something, Molly. It was a wonderful plan, 
but I ruined it long ago. I had my chance and 
threw it away. Oh, what made me so stupid? ” 
“ Now, none of that,” Babs put in briskly. 
“You may not have studied much when Wang 
was here, but you’ve made up for it these last 
few weeks. With what you already know and 
what you could learn at college, you’d have a 
perfectly good Chinese education. And that’s 
what they wanted for you, isn’t it? ” 

“ Yes, but you forget, Babs,” Ruth sighed. 
“I’m not going to college, and Wang will never 
know that I tried to catch up after he left us. 
It’s too late now.” 

“ Oh, wo., Ruth! ” Molly protested. “ You’re 
forgetting something, too. There was Wang’s 
note, you know.” 

“ I’m not forgetting that. It’s the very thing 
that makes me sure it’s too late.” 

“ What do you mean? ” 

“ Well, we thought that the riddle was a test 
to see if I really had learned, or absorbed, what 
Wang had tried to teach me. If I could find 
the answer to it, it would prove that I had. 
And — don’t you see? I’ve proved that I was 
a failure. I haven’t found the answer.” 


156 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


“ You mean you haven’t found it yet” Molly 
answered staunchly. 

“ Bless you, Molly! ” Ruth managed a laugh. 
“ I don’t know what I ever did without you two. 
Do you really think I will find it some time? ” 
“ Certainly we do,” Molly replied seriously. 
“ It may not be to-day or to-morrow, but you’ll 
find it. Of course you will! ” 

“ Well, I’m going to keep on trying,” Ruth 
answered with new determination. “ Wang 
may never know, but you girls will, and I’m not 
going to quit as long as you go on believing in 
me! ” 


CHAPTER XV 


THE EYE OF THE UNINSTRUCTED 

Although by common consent the Chinese 
study class had disbanded, the girls continued 
their habit of meeting in the pagoda almost 
every afternoon. 

Babs, solemnly stating that she had 
“ sprained her brain ” over the Chinese classics, 
had taken up knitting as a relaxation and was 
enthusiastically at work on a matching sweater 
and beret in white wool. Molly and Ruth usu¬ 
ally brought magazines or books with them. 

On an afternoon about a week after Sailor 
Jim’s abrupt departure they were gathered as 
usual. Molly was absorbed in a book, but Bar¬ 
bara’s keen eyes noticed that Ruth read list¬ 
lessly, frequently raising her eyes to gaze 
dreamily out toward the sun-drenched lawn. 

A little frown puckered Barbara’s forehead 
as she bent over her knitting. She was worried 

157 


158 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

about Ruth. Ever since their last talk on the 
day they had discussed her cherished dream, 
she had been silent and preoccupied. She car¬ 
ried the little slip of paper containing Wang’s 
farewell message with her constantly, and the 
girls would find her poring over it at odd times. 
Yet all her puzzling had brought her no nearer 
the solution, and Babs ached to feel that her 
friend’s mind would not be at rest until the 
mystery was cleared up. 

If only there were some way that she and 
Molly could help! But that was impossible 
for two reasons: first, that they didn’t know 
how; second, and more important, that this was 
Ruth’s job, her test, and they had no right to 
intrude. But if only — 

Molly looked up from her book and caught 
Barbara’s frowning glance. “ Worrying about 
the sweater, honey? ” she asked. “ I think it’s 
going to come out all right, now that you were 
bright enough to dispense with the sleeves. I 
still think you’re making a mistake by making 
it all white, though.” 

With relief, Babs dismissed her worries for 
the new subject. “ I’m beginning to think so, 
too, Sis. I brought some lovely jade-green 


EYE OF THE UNINSTRUCTED 159 

wool along this afternoon — do you think a few 
green stripes would be an improvement, or 
what would you suggest? ” 

“ Why, I don’t know — oh, I like that green! 
Why don’t you make some sort of design with 
it instead of stripes? A swastika or some¬ 
thing? ” 

“ I hadn’t thought of that,” Babs answered 
doubtfully. “ I wonder if I could do it with¬ 
out a pattern? ” She glanced about the room, 
and her eye fell on the far wall with its panels 
of Chinese characters. 

“ Oh, Molly, here’s an idea! ” she exclaimed. 
“ Why couldn’t I make it Chinese? I think I 
could copy one of the simpler signs, maybe. 
Don’t you think that would be an original 
touch? ” 

“ Lovely! That’s the right Chinese jade, 
too — it’ll look like imported work.” Molly’s 
eyes scanned the panels opposite her. “ Which 
one could you use? There’s the ‘ long life ’ 
sign; you see it on a lot of Chinese-made 
things.” 

“ Too complicated, I’m afraid. Um, let’s 
see. I like ‘ the East,’ with the sun shining 
through a treetop, but I don’t believe I could 



160 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

manage it, either. Besides, I want one that 
means something — especially nice. Maybe 
it’ll bring me good luck!” 

'“Happiness?’” Molly suggested. "It’s 
easy — plain straight lines. A square field 
with a mouth over it — it really means ' enough 
to eat.’ That’s a poor coolie’s idea of happi¬ 
ness, I guess.” 

“ Yes, I know.” Babs was absently tracing 
the figure in the air. “ I don’t believe it would 
be too hard.” She rose and walked over to ex¬ 
amine the wall more closely. “ What a lot of 
‘happinesses’ there are!” she exclaimed. 
“ Two in the second row, one in this column, 
two over there, and two — no, three in the cor¬ 
ner. Happiness all over the place.” 

“ Well, Wang would naturally pick out some 
cheerful mottoes for a playroom,” Molly was 
beginning, when she stopped short, staring at 
Ruth. 

Ruth had thrown aside her book and had 
sprung to her feet so quickly that the pillows 
were scattered in every direction. With what 
Babs afterwards described as “ a kangaroo 
leap,” she stood beside them, catching Barbara’s 
arm in a tense clasp that hurt. 


EYE OF THE UNINSTRUCTED 161 

What did you say? ” she demanded, her 
voice hoarse with excitement. 

Babs stared into her blazing eyes, utterly be¬ 
wildered. “ I didn’t say anything, Ruth. 
What’s the matter with you? ” 

“You did! Just now — ” she struggled a 
moment and subdued her obvious excitement. 
“ Sorry, honey, I didn’t mean to jump at you 
that way. But, Babs, will you please say it 
again — what you just said to Molly? ” 

“ The woman’s gone mad; we’ll have to hu¬ 
mor her!” Babs hissed in a dramatic aside 
to her sister. But seeing that Ruth was wait¬ 
ing, quivering with impatience, she hastened to 
answer her. 

“ I just said there were a lot of ‘ happiness ’ 
signs on the wall here, Ruthie. That’s all. 
What’s all the fuss about? ” 

“ Happiness all over the place — that’s what 
you said.” Ruth’s voice had fallen to an awed 
whisper. “ Oh, Babs, you darling! ” She 
crushed the younger girl to her in a breath¬ 
taking hug. Then her arms dropped. She 
drew a long breath and turned to face them. 

“ Girls,” she said falteringly, “ you’ve been 
the dearest friends, the best pals any one could 



162 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


have. You know what I’ve been trying to do 
and how much it means to me. You’ve helped 
me every step of the way, cheered and en¬ 
couraged me when I was ready to give up. 
Now — ” her eyes beseeched them — “I’ve 
come to the place where I have to stand or fall 
by myself. Will you help me do that? 33 

“ Of course we will! ” Babs was puzzled but 
loyal. “ Whatever you say, Ruthie, old girl. 
But what’s all this about, anyway? ” 

“ I think I know.” Molly’s lovely eyes 
glowed with sympathy. “ It’s about the riddle, 
isn’t it, Ruth? You’ve found a clue at last? 
Just tell us what you want us to do, dear; you 
know you can count on us.” 

“ Don’t I know it? ” There were tears be¬ 
hind Ruth’s smile. “ Yes, it is a clue, Molly. 
I think — I hope — oh, I’m afraid to think or 
hope! But — well, this is my job. I have to 
go on alone. You do see that, don’t you? 
And I wonder — would you mind just leaving 
me here by myself for a while? I don’t want 
to be rude, but — ” 

“ Of course not ; we understand! ” Molly an¬ 
swered warmly. “ Come on, Babs. And close 
your mouth; you look simple! We won’t dis- 


EYE OF THE UNINSTRUCTED 163 

turb you, Ruth, and we’ll see that no one else 
does.” She put an arm about Ruth’s shoulder 
and kissed her. “ All the luck in the world, 
honey! ” 

The yellow door closed behind them, and 
Ruth was alone in the pagoda. 


CHAPTER XVI 

DISTURBING NEWS 

Molly and Babs retreated only as far as the 
hammock at the side of the house. They wanted 
to be far enough away so Ruth would feel her¬ 
self alone; yet they were anxious to “ stand by,” 
to be ready if she needed them. 

Babs had left her knitting behind, but, as she 
said, it didn’t really matter, for she was much 
too excited to go on with it. The book which 
Molly had found so absorbing a few minutes 
ago had lost its charm now, and the two sisters 
sat side by side in the hammock, trying their 
best to be patient. 

“ I still don’t know what it’s all about,” Babs 
complained. “Do you, Sis? What was it 
that got her all stirred up so suddenly? ” 

“ Why, it was what you said about the £ hap¬ 
piness ’ signs. Don’t you remember the first 
words of the riddle? ‘ Wouldst thou find hap- 

164 


DISTURBING NEWS 165 

piness? The eye of the uninstructed seeth it in 
many places ’ — I forget the rest of it. Any- 
way, you said that happiness seemed to be all 
over the place; remember? ” 

“ Yes, but I still don’t see — wait, I do, too! 
She thinks the riddle refers to the Chinese writ¬ 
ing on the wall; is that it? ” 

“ I think so. It seems quite reasonable, too 
— I wonder why we never thought of it before. 
Wang built the pagoda and put the mottoes 
there; he spent a lot of time in it, and he knew 
Ruth did. Oh, I’m so glad she’s getting some¬ 
where at last! ” 

“ So am I! ” Babs breathed thankfully. 
“ She was feeling so discouraged — oh, I do 
hope this doesn’t turn out a false alarm! I just 
can’t stand having her disappointed again.” 

“ I know; I feel that way, too. Well, all we 
can do is wait and see. At least she has some¬ 
thing to work on, now. That means a lot.” 

The girls relapsed into anxious silence, their 
eyes fixed upon the closed yellow door of the 
pagoda. 

The summer sun seemed to stand still in the 
sky of cloudless blue. The afternoon was 
warm, but not unpleasantly so. A lazy breeze 





166 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

ruffled the treetops, bringing a scent of fresh- 
cut hay from the meadows beyond the town. 

Catalpa Street, as usual at this time of day, 
was practically empty. Once a troop of Boy 
Scouts, bound for a hike, went by with joyous 
whoops. The grocer’s wagon with its fat white 
horse meandered slowly past. Across the street 
they could see young Mrs. Corbin settling her 
baby in its pram under the trees for an after¬ 
noon nap. Not a sound nor a movement came 
from the pagoda. 

Gradually Barbara’s excited bouncings in the 
hammock ceased. It was a drowsy afternoon, 
and drowsiness was creeping over her. Molly 
had opened her book again and was either in¬ 
terested or pretending to be. Barbara’s eyes 
ached from watching the yellow door, and her 
head drooped back against the pillows. 

The unexpected slamming of the kitchen 
screened door startled her from what was al¬ 
most a doze. Dr. Curtis had come out and was 
standing there, his near-sighted eyes blinking 
uncertainly. 

With a bound, Babs was out of the hammock 
and running to him. 

“Did you want Ruthie, Doctor? She’s in 


DISTURBING NEWS 167 


the pagoda. She’s — she’s rather busy. Won’t 
I do instead? ” 

The old man patted the shining head. 
“ Thank you, child. It’s nothing that can’t 
wait. Is that your sister in the hammock yon¬ 
der? How nice and cool it looks under the 
trees!” He drew out his handkerchief and 
mopped his forehead. 

“ Come over and join us,” Babs invited 
eagerly. “ You’ve been down-town, haven’t 
you? Was it awfully hot? ” She pulled up a 
hickory rocker, and the doctor sank into it 
gratefully. 

“ Pretty warm.” He smiled an acknowl¬ 
edgment of Molly’s greeting as he answered 
Babs’ question. “ I try to spare myself the 
heat of the day usually, but this was an emer¬ 
gency call. My old friend Judge Doyle tried 
to climb a telephone post in that new car of his 
and shook himself up pretty badly.” 

“ Oh, that’s too bad,” Molly exclaimed. 
“ The Judge is Mumsy’s landlord, you know, 
Babs. Was he seriously hurt, Doctor? ” 

Dr. Curtis shook his head. “ Not even 
enough to teach him a lesson, I’m afraid. We 
got him home, and I left him resting quite com- 


168 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

fortably. I noticed a rather odd thing over 
there,” he added musingly. “ On second 
thought, I don’t know that I’ll mention it to 
Ruthie. Still — well, I’ll see what you two 
think. Judge Doyle has a new gardener, girls. 
And who do you think he is? ” 

“ I can’t imagine,” Babs answered won- 
deringly. 

“ Our old friend Sailor Jim. And he had 
the effrontery to say that we would recommend 
him. The Judge said he’d meant to call me up 
and verify that, but his lawn was in terrible 
shape, and he put the man to work at once. 
Then it seems that Jim did such a good job that 
he didn’t bother any more about it.” 

“ Why, the very idea! ” Babs exclaimed in¬ 
dignantly. “ I hope you told him—” 

“ No, I didn’t want to excite the Judge after 
his shaking up, so I said nothing. After all, 
Jim is an efficient gardener, and I have no right 
to interfere with a man’s efforts to earn an 
honest living. Mrs. Doyle called him to help 
me get the Judge upstairs, and I must say he 
was quite civil and obliging.” 

“ Why, I had no idea he was still in Pleasant 
Hill! ” Molly exclaimed. “ I thought of course 


DISTURBING NEWS 169 


he’d go back to the sea or to China or wherever 
he did come from. What do you suppose he 
wants to stay here for? ” 

“ I can’t imagine. His ways are mysteries 
to me. Do you think I’d better tell Ruth, 
girls? She always disliked him so much that 
I’m afraid she’ll be upset at finding that he’s 
a neighbor.” 

“ A neighbor? ” 

“ Why, yes. The Doyles live right down 
the street, you know. That big white house on 
the corner at Prairie Avenue — the third block 
from us, it would be.” 

“ Then you’ll have to tell Ruth, I think,” 
Molly answered thoughtfully. “ She’ll be sure 
to see him sooner or later, anyway. I don’t 
suppose — ” 

Her sentence was never finished. For the 
pagoda door had opened at last. Ruth stood 
in the doorway, beckoning to them. 

“ Granther, will you come, too? ” she called. 
“ I was going to ask the girls to get you. Will 
you all come, please? ” 


CHAPTER XVII 


THE RIDDLE IS READ 

Dr. Curtis sat on the teakwood chest with 
Molly and Babs on either side. Ruth stood 
before them, very tall and straight, her cheeks 
flushed and her hands nervously clasping and 
unclasping. 

“ I’ve got to do a lot of explaining, and I’m 
not very good at it,” she began falteringly. 
“ Will you all be just as patient with me as you 
can? You girls know what I’ve been trying 
to do, but Granther doesn’t, and I want to go 
over the whole thing again anyway. It’s all 
pretty important, and I want to be sure every¬ 
thing’s clear.” 

She hesitated a minute. Molly and Babs 
waited breathlessly, while Dr. Curtis looked de¬ 
cidedly bewildered. But no one spoke, and 
Ruth went on in her low, eager voice. 

“ You remember when Wang told us good- 

170 


THE RIDDLE IS READ 171 

by, Granther? He spoke of how he had tried 
to educate me in the Chinese way because the 
mandarin Chu Hi wished it? I don’t know 
how much attention you paid, dear, when Wang 
used to give me lessons out here in the pagoda 
a long time ago, when I was a little thing. You 
were pretty busy then, and I guess you thought 
Wang was just trying to amuse me and keep 
me out of mischief.” 

She paused, and Dr. Curtis nodded. “ I cer¬ 
tainly didn’t attach any great importance to it, 
Ruth. Wang never told me that he was fol¬ 
lowing instructions from Chu Hi or that there 
w^as any serious purpose in your studies. I 
was completely taken aback when Wang spoke 
as he did in our last talk.” 

“ That was what I thought,” Ruth went on. 
“ You see, the whole idea was that I was to 
make my own choice. Wang was to offer me 
the chance to become a Chinese scholar, but 
not to try in any way to make me do it unless 
I really felt drawn to it. He didn’t urge me 
when I lost interest, and I never dreamed that 
he took it to heart so. Until that last talk, when 
he was going away — then I realized all it had 
meant to him and how I had disappointed him.” 


172 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


“ But, my dear, you mustn’t let it trouble 
you now,” the Doctor protested. “ It’s over 
and done with. Why distress yourself about 
it? ” 

“ I’m not distressed, Granther,” Ruth an¬ 
swered swiftly. “I’m only trying to explain. 
I’ll hurry along, though. You remember 
that, at the very last, Wang found an excuse 
for me? He said that perhaps I really had 
learned more by instinct than he knew? Well, 
and then he gave me this paper, the thing we’ve 
always called Wang’s riddle. I showed it to 
you, Granther; you thought it was his way of 
saying good-by.” 

“ I remember,” the old gentleman agreed. 
“You believe it had some further meaning? ” 

“ Not at first,” Ruth replied. “ But I talked 
it over with the girls here, and Molly suggested 
that perhaps it was a test, a chance to prove that 
I really had learned something from my Chi¬ 
nese lessons. Does that seem reasonable to 
you, Granther? ” 

“ Why, bless my soul, it does; it does indeed,” 
Dr. Curtis answered interestedly. “ Although 
I confess I should never have thought of it my¬ 
self. But — yes, it is very much in keeping 



THE RIDDLE IS READ 173 

with the Chinese character as I know it. Go 
on, my dear. Are we to understand that you 

have read the riddle? ” 

♦ 

“ I tried,” Ruth answered, with a little catch 
in her voice. “ You don’t know how hard I’ve 
studied, Granther, trying to find something in 
the Chinese books that would explain it to me. 
None of it seemed to help, though, and I was 
just about ready to give it up. And then to¬ 
day something Babs said put me on the right 
track at last.” 

“ Now wait a minute! ” Babs interposed. “ I 
love to have credit for bright inspirations, but 
I can’t claim any here. What I said didn’t 
make any difference, Ruth. It was just an ac¬ 
cident. If I hadn’t said it, you’d have noticed 
all the ‘ happinesses ’ yourself, sooner or later, 
and connected them with the riddle — if there 
is any connection,” she finished doubtfully. 
“ You haven’t told us yet if your clue led to 
anything.” 

“ I’m coming to that now,” Ruth answered 
breathlessly. “ But first I want to read the 
riddle to you all again.” She took the paper 
from her pocket, but she scarcely glanced at it 
as she recited: 



174 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


“ Wouldst thou find happiness? 

66 The eye of the uninstructed seeth it in many 
places, but the learned person is not deceived. For 
where shall happiness lie, save between the bringers of 
brightness, below that which is highest, and above 
the one of all most miserable? 

“ Yet shall it not be thine until thou hast thrust 
it from thee! ” 

“ And what I said, Doctor,” Babs explained, 
“ was that there were a lot of ‘ happiness ’ signs 
on the wall over there. And then Ruth asked us 
to leave her alone in the pagoda while she tried 
to work out the riddle. We were waiting for 
her to call us wdien you found us in the ham¬ 
mock. So now you know as much about this 
as Sis and I do.” 

“ I can see, too, that Ruth has had staunch 
allies in her quest,” the Doctor smiled. “ Go 
on, Ruthie dear. What comes next? ” 

“ I want to know if any of you can tell me 
the answer to the riddle I just read.” 

Blank silence answered her. “ I asked,” she 
went on, vainly trying to keep the excitement 
out of her voice, “ because I want to be perfectly 
sure I did it alone. Oh, I was helped every step 
of the way by these darling girls, Granther — 


THE RIDDLE IS READ 175 


you don’t know how splendid they’ve been! 
But the very last step, the actual reading of the 
riddle — that has to be mine. Wang may never 
know, but I’ve got to prove to myself that I was 
able to pass his test! ” 

She looked so desperately anxious that they 
all hastened to reassure her. The riddle, even 
with the hint that it had something to do with 
the writing on the wall, was still a riddle to her 
hearers. 

With hands that trembled a little, she drew 
them over to the wall which was covered with 
texts. 

“‘Wouldst thou find happiness?’” she 
quoted solemnly. 44 4 The eye of the unin¬ 
structed seeth it in many places.’ Do you see, 
Granther? Here’s 4 happiness,’ and here, and 
here.” 

44 Yes, even an uninstructed eye like mine 
can see that,” he answered gently. 44 What 
next, child? ” 

44 4 Between the bringers of brightness,’ ” she 
went on. 44 Look at the wall, Granther. Does 
that mean anything to you? Molly? Bar¬ 
bara?” 

44 4 The bringers of brightness,’ ” Molly re- 



176 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


peated. “ It sounds as though it ought to, but 
— no, I’m afraid it doesn’t.” 

“ Then how about ‘ that which is highest ’? ” 
Ruth asked again. 

“ Oh, I know! ” Babs cried suddenly. “ That 
word at the top there — 4 mountains.’ Is it 
something to do with that? ” 

44 No, but you’re getting warm,” Ruth an¬ 
swered. 44 Now the last — 4 the one of all most 
miserable.’ That was where I started — at the 
very end. Do you see it now? Any of you?” 

They stared obediently but without result. 
44 I think you’ve proved your point quite con¬ 
clusively, dear,” Dr. Curtis said at last. 44 None 
of us have the faintest idea of how to read your 
riddle. Are you ready to tell us now? ” 

Ruth drew a long breath. With a hand that 
she tried in vain to steady, she laid a finger on 
a 4 happiness ’ character at about the height of 
her shoulders in the third of the four columns. 

44 Look at this one. Do you see what’s on 
each side of it? The 4 moon ’ here, and the 
4 sun ’ there. And — do you see the one above ? 
It’s the 4 heaven ’ symbol. And below is the 
4 beggar.’ And now — listen again. 

44 4 For where shall happiness lie, save between 



THE RIDDLE IS READ 177 

the bringers of brightness ’ — the sun and moon! 
4 And below that which is highest ’ — heaven is 
higher than the mountain, Babs. ‘ And above 
the one of all most miserable ’ — surely that’s a 
beggar. And here’s 4 happiness ’ right in the 
middle.” 




44 But, Ruth, my dear, this is remarkable! ” 
Dr. Curtis bent forward to scan the symbols 
closely. “ Yes, I should say there was no doubt 
about it. Congratulations, my dear! Your 
education in the subtleties of Oriental imagery 
has been most successful, after all. If only our 
good Wang could be here now, he would be 
deeply gratified.” 

44 Thanks, Granther,” Ruth pressed his hand. 
44 But wait; that isn’t all. Do you remember 
the last line ? Wang underlined it to show how 





178 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

important it was. r Yet shall it not be thine un¬ 
til thou hast thrust it from thee!' Watch! ” 
She put her two hands on the £ happiness ’ char¬ 
acter and pushed it gently. 

With a gasp of surprise, the watchers saw 
that the whole third column of writing moved 
back into the wall a full inch. 

“ This is as far as I got,” Ruth confessed 
tremulously. “ I don’t know what it means. 
I’m almost afraid to look. Besides, I wanted 
you all with me. Granther, do you think I 
ought to do this? Did Wang want me to? ” 

“ I am sure he did, my dear,” the old gentle¬ 
man answered steadily. “ He gave you the 
riddle, remember. You are only carrying out 
his wishes. Don’t be afraid.” 

££ Well, then.” Ruth satisfied herself that 
the panel would not move back any farther. 
She slipped her slender fingers into the crack at 
one side and pushed again. Smoothly, noise¬ 
lessly, the entire panel slid aside, leaving an 
opening its entire width and running from floor 
to ceiling. 



Smoothly,' noiselessly, the entire.panel slid,aside 

-Page 178 















CHAPTER XVIII 


THE SECRET SHRINE 

The lower part of the space, from the floor 
up, was empty, showing the bare boards of the 
outside wall. But at a height of about three 
feet from the ground a shelf had been fixed, 
and upon this was arranged an elaborate but 
miniature shrine. 

A screen of gilded wood, intricately carved, 
formed the background. Before thi$ on a se¬ 
ries of shallow steps, stood a gilded wooden 
tablet about a foot high. The tablet was in¬ 
scribed in red and black lettering. Graceful 
pottery incense-burners stood on each side, and 
the little nook still held a faint smoky odor. 
Before the tablet stood a cup which had once 
contained tea and a little green bowl holding 
a withered orange. 

Neither Molly nor Babs had ever seen any¬ 
thing in the least like it before, and they turned 
to Ruth for an explanation. 


181 


182 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

“ This was poor Wang’s praying-place,” she 
said, with tears in her voice. “ And to think 
he hid it away all these years! Why, he must 
have known he didn’t have to do that! ” 

“ It shows his honorable feelings, Ruth,” 
Dr. Curtis said gently. “ Many Christian fam¬ 
ilies would have objected to the practice of 
what they consider a heathen religion under 
their roof, and Wang was scrupulously anxious 
not to offend. He may have felt that, in a 
small town like this, we would have been criti¬ 
cized for permitting it, even though we had no 
objection ourselves. You and I, Ruthie, I am 
sure, have nothing but respect for Wang’s loy¬ 
alty to his faith, but some of our neighbors 
might have thought differently. I think he was 
very wise.” 

“ Well, I certainly shouldn’t have minded,” 
Ruth insisted. “ Wang was one of the best 
men I ever knew, and, if he wanted to say his 
prayers before a memorial tablet to his ances¬ 
tors, it’s all right with me.” 

“ Is that what that red and gold thing is? ” 
Molly asked. “ I’ve been wondering. Isn’t 
the carving beautiful? And I suppose the tea 
and the orange were offerings.” 


THE SECRET SHRINE 183 

“ I suppose so. I don’t know much about 
Chinese Buddhism, either,” Ruth replied. 

They stood a moment in silence, admiring 
Wang’s handiwork, and then Barbara ven¬ 
tured, “ But, Ruth, I’m afraid I don’t quite see 
the point, even yet. Wang’s riddle was meant 
to lead you to the shrine; that’s plain. But now 
you’ve solved it and you’re here. And — well, 
what I mean is, what next? What’s it all for, 
anyway?” 

Ruth’s eyes were fixed upon the little altar, 
and her voice was almost a whisper as she an¬ 
swered, “ I think I know, Babs. Look! ” She 
pointed to something which had just caught her 
attention, something which the others had not 
yet noticed. 

It was a tiny box of pinkish-white jade, not 
much larger than a safety-match box, and it 
rested on the gilded platform which supported 
the tablet. Very carefully Ruth reached in and 
withdrew it. 

“ Oh, how beautiful! ” she exclaimed involun¬ 
tarily. 

The four sides were a masterpiece of delicate 
carving, showing a Chinese landscape with the 
Great Wall always in the background. There 


184 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


were mountains and lakes, palaces and gardens, 
with tiny human figures at work and at play. 
The Emperor rode in state, carried in a palan¬ 
quin; soldiers with banners marched before 
him. It was all on so small a scale that it 
strained the eye to look at it; yet every slight¬ 
est detail was perfect. The top of the box 
was plain, showing the exquisite veining of the 
polished stone; in the very center a mandarin’s 
Great Seal was deeply engraved. 

“ Oh, it’s lovely, but open it, quick! ” Bar¬ 
bara begged. “ I can’t wait! Ruth, do you 
think it is — ” 

Ruth’s shaking fingers fumbled vainly at the 
lid. “ Granther, help me!” she appealed 
breathlessly. 

“ I think, if you press the Great Seal, it will 
release the spring,” the Doctor suggested. 
“ Your father sent me a similar box many years 
ago, and that was the principle upon which it 
operated.” 

Quickly Ruth followed his suggestion, and 
under her fingers the lid slipped back in its 
groove. Eagerly the others craned forward. 

Upon a bed of imperial-blue velvet lay seven 
perfect pearls, knotted on a thread of faded 


THE SECRET SHRINE 18S 


crimson silk. Twilight was settling over the 
pagoda, and they gleamed with an incredibly 
soft luster in the dimness. 

For a moment no one spoke. Then Molly 
breathed softly, “ The pearls of heaven! ” 

Babs snorted. “ You would say something 
poetic, Sis! Me, I’m utterly speechless, for 
once. All I can think is that Sailor Jim cer¬ 
tainly knew his oysters! ” 


CHAPTER XIX 

THE DRAGON STRIKES 

Dinner, or a pretense of dinner, had been 
eaten. Mrs. Bronson, returning from the shop 
in ignorance of the afternoon’s exciting hap¬ 
penings, had heard the story and had been taken 
to see the secret shrine. 

And now the two elders and the three girls 
were gathered in Dr. Curtis’ study to talk the 
whole thing over. 

Dr. Curtis sat, as usual, at his desk. Mrs. 
Bronson had taken the deep leather armchair. 
Molly and Babs were side by side on the old 
leather divan, and Ruth sat in her own little 
rocking-chair by the long French window. All 
the windows in this room opened upon the 
veranda and stood ajar for coolness. 

“ You do think Wang meant to give the 
pearls to me, Granther? ” Ruth asked anx¬ 
iously. “ After all, he didn’t say so.” 


186 


THE DRAGON STRIKES 187 

“ I think there can be no doubt of it, my 
dear, although I fancy the giver is rather the 
mandarin Chu Hi. As I understand it, Wang 
was acting as his agent all along. The man¬ 
darin wished you to be educated in his language 
in order that you might carry on the traditional 
position of his family as Keepers of the Wall. 
I must confess that I am rather puzzled as to 
what practical plan he had in mind, but — ” 

“ I think I know that, Granther,” Ruth in¬ 
terposed. “ Molly and Babs figured it out for 
me,” with a grateful glance at them. “ You 
see,” she went on rather hesitantly, “ Wang 
and I used to talk a lot about — well, we pre¬ 
tended that somehow or other I might manage 
to take a medical course and go out to China 
and go on with their work — Mother’s and 
Daddy’s, you know. Of course it’s an impos¬ 
sible plan, but I think Chu ITi thought it could 
be done.” 

To her relief, the old Doctor took this sur¬ 
prising announcement quite calmly. “ A very 
worthy ambition, my dear. You say that 
Wang encouraged you? He approved of your 
taking up medical work in his country? ” 
“Oh, yes!” Ruth breathed more freely 




188 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


now. “ He suggested it, really. And we think 
the mandarin told him to.” 

“ It was their ambition for you, then? ” he 
asked keenly. “Not your own? ” 

“ It was my own, too. I might not have 
thought of it alone, but, ever since I can remem¬ 
ber, I’ve wanted to do it more than anything 

i 

else in the world.” 

“ You never spoke of this dream to me, 
child,” the old man said with gentle reproach, 
and Ruth flushed. 

“ It was only a dream, Granther. What was 
the use of bothering you with it? I knew that 
we couldn’t afford it — four years at college, 
and a three year medical course after that! 
You’ve brought me up to be practical, darling, 
to ‘ cut my coat according to my cloth,’ as you 
always said. As soon as I was old enough to 
figure what it would cost, I put the whole thing 
out of my head. And besides, even if there 
weren’t the money difficulty, there was another 
one. I’d never, never go so far away and leave 
you here all alone.” 

“ Spoken like my sweet, unselfish girl! ” Dr. 
Curtis said tenderly. “ But, Ruthie — ” there 
was an unexpected twinkle in his blue eyes 



THE DRAGON STRIKES 189 

now — “ has it occurred to you that I might 
not necessarily be left here alone? Sinai Col¬ 
lege is not far away; you would be able to spend 
your week-ends and holidays with me, as your 
father did. And as for later, when you set sail 
on your mission — well, I must confess that 
I’ve always longed to see the Chinese hospital 
which bears my son’s name.” 

“ Granther! You mean that you’d come to 
China with me? Oh, you precious old darling, 
I never even thought of that! ” Ruth rushed 
over to hug him ecstatically. 

“ And your other objection, Ruth, no longer 
exists,” Mrs. Bronson observed, smiling. 
“ These pearls will just about blot the words 
‘ can’t afford ’ from your vocabulary.” 

“ Ruth! ” Molly exclaimed suddenly. “ I’ve 
just thought of something. They are the pearls 
of heaven! I mean — you know that was what 
Wang called knowledge. These pearls stand 
for the money that will buy you knowledge, 
Chinese and American both. They’ll pay for 
your education at Sinai, won’t they, Mumsy? ” 
Mrs. Bronson laughed. “I’m not a gem ex¬ 
pert, honey. But these pearls are of good size, 
perfect, and perfectly matched. From the lit- 



190 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


tie I know of such things, there’s a greater for¬ 
tune here in this little box than any of you seem 
to realize. It appalls me to think that they 
were lying out there in the back yard all this 
time! Why, any one might have taken them! ” 

“ Hardly, I think,” the Doctor answered 
comfortably. “ We know of one ruffian who 
made a thorough search for them without any 
success. No wonder Jim was willing to tear 
the pagoda apart, girls. He’d seen the jewels, 
remember, and knew something of their worth.” 

“ I suppose the mandarin sent them to Wang 
to give me, so he could be sure my education 
would go on when Wang left,” Ruth said 
musingly. “ And Wang wasn’t certain that 
I was worthy of it, so he hid them in the shrine 
and gave me the riddle to work out. I wonder 
what would have happened to them if I’d never 
succeeded.” 

“ Why, that’s just it,” Molly answered her. 
“ He knew you would succeed, or he’d never 
have taken the chance. He did have faith in 
you, Ruth, all the time.” 

“ And just wanted to prod you into doing 
a little original thinking,” Babs finished mali¬ 
ciously. “ Never mind, dearest, you pulled it 


THE DRAGON STRIKES 191 

off, and we’re all proud of you. What are you 
going to do with the pearls of heaven to-night? 
I’m afraid I won’t be able to sleep a wink with 
all that wealth in the house.” 

Ruth glanced lovingly at the box, where it 
lay on a small table at her elbow. It was open, 
and the rays of the lamplight touched the treas¬ 
ure to a soft, lovely glow. 

“ Oh, we’ll just lock them up in Granther’s 
desk for the night,” she said easily. “ They’ll 
be perfectly safe; no one would think of look¬ 
ing for jewels here. To-morrow we’ll take 
them down to the bank, don’t you think, 
Granther? ” 

“ Yes, that will be best,” he answered. “ I 
want Mr. Hein, the jeweler, to see them, too. 
He’ll be able to give us an idea of their value, 
though I expect they’ll have to be taken to the 
city when it comes to disposing of them. Hein 
will tell me how to go about that.” 

“ We’re not going to sell the box,” Ruth 
proclaimed. “ It’s too darling. I’m going to 
keep it always to remember Wang by.” 

“ It’s always Wang, never Chu Hi, with you, 
isn’t it, Ruth? ” Molly said. “ And, after all, it’s 
the mandarin, really, who is your good fairy.” 


192 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


“ I know; I keep forgetting,” Ruth replied. 
“ It’s because he is just a sort of far-away good 
fairy, while dear old Wang is a real person to 
me. But of course I am grateful to Chu Hi, 
and I’m going to show it by doing everything 
he wanted me to do. Babs! What is the 
matter? ” 

For Barbara had interrupted with a sudden 
shriek so wild, so startling, that every face 
turned toward her. 

“ The — the hand! ” she gasped now. “With 
the creepy, crawly dragon — oh, it was hor¬ 
rible! Didn’t any of you see it? There, 
through the window — oh, Mumsy, I’m so 
frightened! ” 

Her mother rose and hurried to her. “ There, 
there, darling, you’re imagining things. No 
one’s here but us. Hush, dear, you mustn’t — 
Why, Molly! ” 

For her older daughter, too, had given a 
frightened exclamation. “Look!” she cried 
chokingly. “ The jade box — it’s gone! ” 


CHAPTER XX 


STRANGE ARE THE WAYS OF HEAVEN 

“ It must have fallen to the floor — look un¬ 
der the table, Ruthie,” the old Doctor urged 
helplessly. “No one could have taken it. It’s 
preposterous! ” 

“ But I saw him, Doctor,” Babs insisted. 
“ At least, I saw the hand. None of you were 
looking that way, and he didn’t make a sound. 
He must have been out there on the veranda 
all the time, and the window was open — he 
just reached in — oh, don’t let’s waste time in 
here! Maybe we can catch him yet!” She 
was half out of the window, dancing with im¬ 
patience. 

Ruth and Molly straightened from their 
hasty search of the floor. “ It isn’t here, Gran- 
ther,” Ruth said breathlessly. “ Babs must be 
right, though I don’t see how — come on, every 
one. Let’s search the yard.” 

193 




194 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

The old Doctor met Mrs. Bronson’s eyes and 
shook his head. “ This is a job for the police, 
my dear. None of us here is equipped for a 
hand-to-hand struggle in the dark with Sailor 
Jim.” 

He drew the desk telephone toward him. 

“Sailor Jim!” Ruth exclaimed. “Why, 
he’s gone! You don’t think he — ” 

“ He didn’t go far, Ruth,” Barbara inter¬ 
rupted. “ And it was his hand; I’d know that 
dragon anywhere.” 

While the Doctor rapidly gave his report to 
police headquarters, Babs told Ruth what they 
had been too excited to tell her before — that 
Sailor Jim had not left Pleasant Hill, but had 
secured employment in their immediate neigh¬ 
borhood. 

She had just finished as the Doctor replaced 
the receiver on the hook. 

“ You’re not to worry, Ruth,” he said. “ The 
sergeant is sending two men here at once with 
instructions to search the neighborhood. Jim 
can’t have gone far; he’ll be hiding in some 
alley if he hasn’t sneaked back to his quarters 
in the Judge’s garage. I’d like to know if he 
realized that you recognized his hand, Barbara. 



WAYS OF HEAVEN 195 

If he did not, the officers will find him in his 
bed, very indignant at being disturbed. We 
may be sure of that.” 

“ Well, he’ll have something to be indignant 
about before we’re through with him! ” Babs 
exclaimed. “ The impudence of it — reaching 
through the window and snatching Ruth’s treas¬ 
ure right out from under her nose. Aren’t you 
furious, Ruthie? ” 

“ I’m just beginning to be,” replied Ruth. 
“ At first, I was so astonished I didn’t have 
room for anything else. I still can’t figure it 
out. How did Sailor Jim know we’d be sitting 
here to-night with the jade box on the table 
where he could reach it? We didn’t know it 
ourselves until just before dinner. And a lit¬ 
tle earlier than that we didn’t even know there 
was a treasure! ” 

“ Well, he had the advantage of us there,” 
Dr. Curtis answered. “ He knew about the 
pearls all along and meant to possess them. 
And I don’t think his being here to-night was 
an accident. He found a job in the neighbor¬ 
hood so that he could keep a watch on our house. 
Wouldn’t you say that was the way of it, 
Mrs. Bronson? ” 


196 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

“ It seems quite certain,” she agreed. “ Your 
veranda all around the house makes spying easy, 
Doctor. I shouldn’t be surprised to learn that 
Jim had been skulking around here every eve¬ 
ning since you sent him away. He knew that 
the pearls would be found sooner or later, and 
he meant to be on hand. I don’t think, though, 
that he expected you to make it so easy for him, 
Ruth. If you’d not left them so temptingly 
within reach, he’d probably have waited till we 
were in bed, and attempted to break in and 
steal them then.” 

“ Oh, I know it’s all my fault,” Ruth an¬ 
swered remorsefully. “ I don’t know how I 
could have been so careless. But I never 
dreamed — ” 

“ Well, can’t we do something? ” Babs burst 
out. “ We’re just sitting here talking, and all 
the time that creature is getting farther away 
with the jewels. I must say I don’t think much 
of your Pleasant Hill police! Why, in the city 
they’d have had a squad car tearing up to the 
house in no time.” 

“ I’m afraid we’re not so well prepared to 
deal with crime out here, Barbara,” the Doctor 
answered mildly. “ Perhaps because we’re 


WAYS OF HEAVEN 197 

not so often called upon to do so. I think, how¬ 
ever — listen, what are those sounds outside? ” 

He stepped toward the window, and the 
others crowded after him. 

The shadowy veranda was empty, but from 
beyond, around the corner toward the front of 
the house, came the scuffle of feet, mingled with 
grunts of pain and angry exclamations in a 
familiar voice. 

“ Sailor Jim! They’ve got him! ” Babs ex¬ 
claimed delightedly. 

Footsteps and voices drew nearer, and they 
all strained forward, their eyes trying to pierce 
the gloom. 

Two figures were rounding the corner of the 
house. One of them grasped the other firmly 
by the collar and seemed to be half dragging, 
half pushing him along. And this other, re¬ 
sisting with every step, turning and twisting 
and trying to strike out at his captor, was pro¬ 
testing in the hoarse voice of Sailor Jim. 

Almost in the same moment there came a 
loud peal at the front door. It is doubtful if 
any member of the group in the study even 
heard it. Every eye, every thought, was cen¬ 
tered on the spectacle at the window. 


198 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


The light from the room fell fully upon the 
two outside now, and Ruth gave a startled cry 
at what she saw. 

Sailor Jim’s collar was torn and flapping, his 
coarse black hair was all awry, and a little trickle 
of blood ran from a cut lip. 

His captor presented almost as distressing 
an appearance. His clothing, too, was dishev¬ 
eled, and a rapidly swelling bruise disfigured 
his right eye. But he was calm and smiling, and 
he held the wretched Jim in a grasp of iron as 
he thrust him through the window and fol-, 
lowed without relaxing his grip. 

It is not seemly that the scholar should en¬ 
gage in brawling with the lowly born,” he ob¬ 
served serenely. “ Yet strange are the ways 
of Heaven, and only the coward’s feet shrink 
from walking therein. Will the Illustrious One 
graciously permit this insect to pollute his pres¬ 
ence for a moment’s space? ” 

“ Wang! ” Ruth ran to him and impetu¬ 
ously threw her arms around his neck. “ Wang 
— you’ve come back! ” 

“ A moment, Little Flower.” His eyes were 
soft and very tender as he smiled at her, but 
his hands were fully occupied with the pris- 



His hands were fully occupied with the prisoner -Page 198 

















/ 





WAYS OF HEAVEN 201 

oner. “ When this poisonous viper is safely 
bestowed — ” 

“ Hey, for the love of Mike, what’s goin’ on 
here? ” 

Officer Riley and his team-mate stood in the 
doorway, their honest red faces agape with 
amazement. Receiving no answer to their ring 
and finding the front door unlocked, they had 
pushed their way through the house and had 
entered the study unnoticed. 

Hr. Curtis wheeled about and welcomed them 
with relief. “ Thank heaven you’ve come, 
men! There’s your prisoner, and mighty glad 
we are to hand him over. Watch out for him; 
he’s a slippery customer.” 

“ Don’t worry, Doc; he won’t get away from 
us.” Officer Riley advanced and seized Jim’s 
arm in a practised grip. As Wang stepped 
back, the policeman surveyed him suspiciously. 

“ How about the other one, Doc? Hadn’t I 
better take the Chink down, too? Chances are 
they was both in it and fell out over the divvy. 
Let’s see, it was some jools you said was missin’, 
wasn’t it? Seen anything of ’em? ” 

Ignoring the policeman with lofty disdain, 
Wang took the little jade box from his pocket 


202 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

and handed it to Dr. Curtis. Then, speaking 
pointedly to the Doctor alone, he made his ex¬ 
planation. 

“ It was my privilege to approach your hon¬ 
ored dwelling some few moments ago, Illustri¬ 
ous One. As I drew near, I observed this per¬ 
son emerging from the gate. He ran silently, 
keeping in the shadows, and had the appear¬ 
ance of an evil-doer. I stepped back into the 
shadow of a tree, and, as he approached me, 
I put forth my foot and caused him to fall to 
the ground. This box, which I had reason to 
know as the property of my young mistress, 
was clutched in his unclean hand. He resisted 
my efforts to take it from him, and I was forced 
to engage in physical combat with the creature. 
I then compelled him to accompany me here, 
that he might make such apologies as were fit¬ 
ting.” 

Wang bowed deeply to Dr. Curtis and 
stepped back, but the old Doctor seized his hand 
and shook it warmly. 

“ That was mighty good work, Wang! And 
you mustn’t be offended at what Officer Riley 
just said. He didn’t know. Wang has been 
a member of my household for many years, 


WAYS OF HEAVEN 203 

Riley, and he’s as devoted to my granddaughter 
and me as we are to him. He’s done your job 
for you to-night, and, considering the time it 
took you to get here, I seriously doubt whether 
the robber would have been caught if he 
hadn’t.” 

Officer Riley was completely crushed. “ Say, 
Doc, I did put my foot in it, didn’t I ? We got 
here as quick as we could, but we had a little 
trouble with the flivver. Well,” he turned to 
Wang, “ I guess I got to apologize, all right. 
I remember you now, of course; seen you 
workin’ around the place here many’s the time. 
But what with that shiner you’ve got — say, 
you ought to put some beefsteak on that right 
off, feller! ” 

“ Your solicitude is most gracious,” Wang 
answered solemnly.. “ There is no resentment 
in my heart. One does not reproach the mule 
because his ears are long.” 

“ Uh, well — I guess you’re right. We’ll be 
goin’ now, Doc. Robbery’s the charge, I take 
it ? We’ll lock this bird up for the night and let 
you hear from us in the mornin’. Come on, 
you! ” 

Sailor Jim had stood silent and sullen ever 


204 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


since Wang brought him into the room. He 
did not speak now, but, with a last malignant 
glance at Wang, he was hurried away between 
the two policemen. 


CHAPTER XXI 


“ ALL FOR ONE ” AND — 

“ And now, Wang, tell us everything! " 

Over his protests, Ruth had insisted on her 
old friend sitting in an easy chair while she 
bathed his bruised eye and bound it up with 
a cooling lotion. 

“ Everything is much, Little Flower,” he an¬ 
swered with a smile. “ This unworthy one 
has not yet progressed to such heights of 
knowledge.” 

“ Oh, Wang, you’re so provoking! You 
know what I mean. Everything about your¬ 
self. Did you actually go all the way to 
China? And wasn’t Chu Hi ill, after all? Or 
did he get well ? And — oh, this is the most 
important! Are you here to stay? Don’t say 
you’re going back again; I just couldn’t stand 
it. You don’t know how I’ve missed you, 
Wang!” 

“ The words of the Little Flower are sweet 


205 


206 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

to these old ears,” he answered gratefully. 
“ My revered master, the mandarin Chu Hi, 
has ascended the Dragon. It was the privilege 
of this lowly servant to close his honorable eyes. 
May his soul find peace! ” 

“ Oh, Wang, I’m sorry! ” Ruth answered. 
“ We know how you loved him. Though I was 
too little to remember him, I’ve always been 
grateful for his kindness to me and to my 
parents — we’ve always felt that he was a dear 
friend, haven’t we, Granther? ” 

“ We have, indeed,” the old man answered. 
“ You have our deepest sympathy, Wang. It 
is a blessing that you reached his bedside in time 
to see him again.” 

Wang inclined his head. “ Heaven was kind 
beyond my poor deserts. The end came 
quickly, on the third day after I reached the 
monastery.” 

“ Then you didn’t have to become a monk — 
to look after him, I mean? ” Ruth asked. “ You 
know you told us you expected to do that. 
That’s why I was so surprised to see you again; 
I didn’t think you could ever come back.” 

“ Such was not necessary, and it is as well. 
For as the illustrious Chu Hi drew near to 



“ ALL FOR ONE ” AND 


207 


Heaven, he was granted increased wisdom, and 
to his clear-seeingness it was revealed that his 
servant’s place is in this house. There is a task 
to do which is not yet complete, and he would 
have me devote my days to bringing his dearest 
hope to its flowering, if such is the will of 
Heaven.” 

“ Oh, Wang, you’re going to stay, then?” 
Barbara had told herself that she must keep 
still and let Ruth and Wang have their first 
little visit out, but her capacity for remaining 
silent had its limits. “ But that’ll be wonder¬ 
ful! You’ll be here with the Doctor while 
Ruthie goes to college, and — oh, I forgot! Is 
Ruthie going to college now? What did Chu 
Hi say she must do? ” 

There was distinct astonishment on Wang’s 
usually expressionless face, and Molly hastened 
to explain. 

“ Ruth told us all about everything, Wang — 
about how Chu Hi wanted her to have a Chinese 
education and be a Keeper of the Wall because 
he had no children of his own. You aren’t 
cross with her for telling us? We thought it 
was a wonderful plan. Of course it wasn’t any 
of our business, but — ” 




208 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


“ Surely I am not cross, little one,” Wang 
answered gently. “ And the business of our 
friends is always our business, if we be true 
friends. Little Flower is an American young 
lady, and it is well that she should take counsel 
with her own kind. You feel that my master’s 
plan was a feasible one? ” 

“ Well, I’ll tell you, Wang,” Molly answered 
slowly. “ I think Chu Hi was absolutely right 
in thinking that Ruth should know something 
of what the Chinese know if she is to make a 
success of hospital work among them. We 
Americans are too likely to think our ways are 
the only right ways, and we offend foreigners 
sometimes by ignoring their ideas. But I don’t 
think that a Chinese education is the most im¬ 
portant thing for her. I don’t think it’s a bit 
more important than what she’ll learn at col¬ 
lege here. I really don’t, Wang! ” 

She glanced at him rather fearfully as she 
finished, and was relieved when he answered 
with real respect, “ You speak wisely, little one. 
So spoke my master as the shadow of the 
Dragon fell upon him. The old learning and 
the new, he said, are but parts of the perfect 
whole.” 


“ALL FOR ONE” AND— 209 


‘ k He does want her to go to college, then? ” 
Babs asked in rather a puzzled voice. 

“ Even so. The noble Chu Hi put no con¬ 
straint upon the Little Flower. She is free to 
do as she wills. But it was his wish that she, 
having tasted of the old wisdom at my unworthy 
hands, should now drink from the fountain 
which flows in your country. It was for this 
purpose that the revered one caused the pearls to 
be conveyed hither by that unspeakable worm 
who called himself Sailor Jim. Again let me 
say, however, that the choice is with her. She is 
not bound, either now or when her days of pu- 
pilship are ended. But, if she chooses then to 
return to the land of her birth and serve its un- 
happy people in the manner of her honored 
parents, then shall the mandarin’s dying prayer 
be fulfilled.” 

“ It’s what I’m going to do, Wang,” Buth 
answered solemnly. “ I’ve wanted to always; 
you know that. And, oh, Wang, I’m so sorry 
— I’ve just been waiting for a chance to tell 
you how sorry I am that I didn’t understand 
before! I was stupid, I know. I never con¬ 
nected my Chinese lessons with our plans. If 
you’d only told me — ” 


210 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

“ It was not the master’s will,” Wang an¬ 
swered with simple finality. “ Many times the 
ways of wisdom appear dark to the unin¬ 
structed, Little Flower, but light comes always 
at the end of the path.” 

“ Well, I’m glad it’s come at last I ” Ruth an¬ 
swered thankfully. “ Everything’s all cleared 
up now, and I can see my way ahead. College, 
and medical school after, and Granther here in 
the old house with you to look after him — and, 
Wang, we’ll all go back to China together. 
You and Granther and me! ” 

“ May it be so! ” he answered with his grave 
smile, and for a moment his hand rested upon 
her head in silent blessing. Then, more lightly, 
he said, “ I have not yet asked, Little Flower, 
the question to which I know the answer. You 
found it easy to read my riddle? ” 

“ Easy? ” Ruth gave a rueful little laugh. 
“ Wang, I worried with it day and night all 
summer long. And studied — you don’t know 
how I studied! I’ve been through every one 
of the books you gave me, and I really worked 
this time.” 

“ That is good. But you did not find the an¬ 
swer in the books? ” 


“ ALL FOR ONE ” AND 


211 


“No, I found it — well, I don’t know how. 
Guesswork, I suppose. Or — what was that 
you said I might have? Woman’s instinct. I 
think that was what really led me to the answer, 
Wang.” 

“ It was so that I planned,” he answered 
musingly. “ The hiding-place had not been 
disturbed? ” 

“ Oh, no, the pearls were perfectly safe, in 
spite of Sailor Jim. We only found them to¬ 
day.” 

“ Don’t say ‘we’; say ‘ I,’ Ruth,” Molly put 
in. “ She did it all by herself, Wang. The 
Doctor will tell you. We were all there, but 
we weren’t any help at all.” 

“ It is very good,” Wang beamed upon his 
pupil. “ But this evil one, this Sailor Jim — 
how is it that I find him here, a thief? Our en¬ 
counter afforded no opportunity for explana¬ 
tions. I had thought that he had returned to 
the sea long since.” 

“ Then you didn't send him to us? ” Babs de¬ 
manded eagerly. “ I told you so, girls! ” 

“I send that unspeakable wretch here? 
What is this story? ” 

“He said you did, Wang,” Barbara an- 


212 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


swered. “ He came — oh, it must have been 
about a month after you’d gone. And he said 
you asked him to because you were worried 
about Ruth and the Doctor’s living here with¬ 
out a strong man to protect them. He just 
moved right in and took over your job, and none 
of us wanted him! And he got to making a 
perfect nuisance of himself about the pagoda 
— wanted to hang around there all the time 
and got perfectly furious when Ruthie locked 
him out! ” 

For the first time the girls saw Wang’s dark 
skin turn pale. “ I had no thought of this! I 
committed the pearls to the guardianship of 
the shrine, never dreaming that they would be 
sought by any but the Little Flower herself. 
Truly, I have been an ignorant and careless 
servant of my master! ” 

“ Oh, but you couldn’t know, Wang.” Ruth 
hastened to console him. “ And the pearls 
were safe, in spite of all Jim could do. Do you 
know he tried to get Granther to tear down the 
pagoda so he could look for them? ” 

“ I blame myself most bitterly,” Wang an¬ 
swered. “ I knew this man to be evil and 
crazed with greed, but I did not dream that he 


“ ALL FOR ONE” AND— 213 

would dare so much. Doubtless the news he 
brought that the illustrious Chu Hi was passing 
into the shadows emboldened his craven heart.” 

“ Did you tell him you were leaving the pearls 
for Ruth, Wang? ” Molly asked. “ We’ve al¬ 
ways been curious about that.” 

“ I do not give my confidence to such cattle! ” 
he answered contemptuously. “ But — a let¬ 
ter from the noble one accompanied the jewels. 
Doubtless he found an opportunity to acquaint 
himself with the contents, in which it was stated 
that the pearls were for the Little Flower. 
Would that I had delivered them to her in the 
instant of receiving! But I had a doubting 
heart; I was not sure that my master’s task had 
been well accomplished, and so I devised the 
plan you know. You will forgive me, Little 
Flower and Learned Doctor, for having unwit¬ 
tingly brought distress into your household? ” 
“ Oh, of course we forgive you, Wang,” Ruth 
answered warmly. “ It wasn’t your fault, any 
of it, and, anyway, no harm was done. Let’s 
forget Sailor Jim, sha’n’t we? ” 

“ It shall be as you say,” he answered. 

Dr. Curtis rose a little stiffly and glanced at 
the clock. 



214 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


“ Do you girls know that it’s well past mid¬ 
night? Wang has had a long journey, with a 
battle at the end of it. I think you’ll have to 
postpone the rest of your questions and answers 
till to-morrow,” 


CHAPTER XXII 
“one for all!” 

Breakfast was scarcely over on the following 
morning when the three girls sought Wang in 
the kitchen, where he had serenely taken up his 
duties again. 

“ Let the dishes go this once, Wang, and come 
out to the pagoda with us,” Ruth coaxed. “ I 
want to show you what I can do with the books 
now . I’ve been so afraid I’d never get a chance 
to show you, and, now that you’re really here, 
I can’t wait another minute! ” 

The Chinese turned from the sink with an 
affectionate smile. (“ How could I ever have 
thought his face looked wooden? ” Babs asked 
herself.) “ It shall be as you wish, Little 
Flower. He that is a slave to small duties is 
no master of greater ones.” 

Ruth drew him eagerly down the path, the 
two sisters following. The little pagoda 

215 


216 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 

looked very friendly and welcoming in the early 
sunlight, and a deep peace flooded the China¬ 
man’s calm face as he bent to enter the door. 

Proudly Ruth dragged the books from the 
chest and plunged into a display of her progress. 
Wang smiled now and then as he gently cor¬ 
rected some error, but it was plain that he was 
both surprised and pleased at the results of her 
summer work. 

When she had finished and received his com¬ 
mendation, Barbara said plaintively, “ I could 
bear to do a little showing off, too. Or will you 
take my word for it, Wang? Anyway, you’ll 
be surprised to know that Sis and I have learned 
a little Chinese, ourselves.” 

“ Oh, yes, Wang, I forgot to tell you! ” Ruth 
interrupted. “ Molly and Babs have studied 
with me, and they know about as much as I do. 
It was their own idea — to keep me at it, I 
guess — and it did. You never saw anything 
like the way these girls have stuck to me through 
everything, Wang! I never dreamed friends 
could be like that! ” 

“ But we wanted to learn, too, Ruth,” Molly 
said gently. “ It wasn’t just for you; it was 
for ourselves. Don’t give us too much credit! 


“ ONE FOR ALL! ” 


217 


We loved your books, Wang. I’m only sorry 
we couldn’t get any farther. I’ve been won¬ 
dering,” she went on shyly. “ You’re going 
to begin teaching Ruth again, aren’t you? To 
prepare her for the Chinese part of her college 
course? Would it be a nuisance, taking Babs 
and me on, too? ” 

“ This unworthy one would esteem it an 
honor,” Wang answered, and they knew from 
his voice that he was deeply touched. “ It is 
precious to feel that the wisdom of my country 
is valued by Western hearts. At your request 
my soul sings, little one.” 

“Oh, that’s grand!” Ruth exclaimed. 
“ Honestly, girls — it’s silly, I know. But 
we’ve been so close together that I don’t feel 
that I could be happy doing anything without 
you two! I can’t even remember what it was 
like before you came! They’ve been the dar¬ 
ling est friends, Wang! Dearer than sisters, 
more like — like — ” 

“ I know — like the Three Musketeers,” 
Babs supplied. “ 4 One for all, all for one! ’ 
That’s the kind of pals we three are, isn’t it, 
Ruthie? ” 

“ That’s exactly it,” Ruth answered grate- 



218 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


fully. “ Only I’m afraid it’s been mostly ‘ all 
for one,’ and I was the one! You two have 
spent the whole summer worrying with my trou¬ 
bles, and I haven’t done a thing for you — ” 

“Oh, but you have, Ruth!” Molly said 
quickly. “ You — and Wang — yes, and Sailor 
Jim! — have given us the most thrilling, ex¬ 
citing summer we’ve ever known. It’s been just 
like living in the middle of a moving picture, 
and we’ve loved every minute of it. Especially 
this last reel, where we come to the happy 
ending! ” 

“ I wouldn’t have missed a second! ” Babs 
agreed. “ Even the part where I saw the 
dragon-hand steal in and vanish with the jade 
box — and I’m not claiming I enjoyed that 
much at the time! I am glad it all came out 
right for you, though, Ruthie dear.” 

“ It never would have if you hadn’t helped,” 
Ruth insisted. “ I told you that I worked the 
riddle all by myself, Wang, but perhaps you 
wouldn’t think so if you knew everything that 
led up to it. There were so many places where 
I was completely lost, and then something one 
of the girls said put me on the right track — 
Why, just imagine, I didn’t even know your 


“ONE FOR ALL!” 219 

note was a riddle till Molly discovered it! And 
it was Barbara’s 4 uninstructed eye ’ which no¬ 
ticed the 4 happiness ’ signs and made me guess 
that the riddle led to the wall there. I know 
I could never have done it without them, 
Wang! ” 

“ True friends are the choicest gift of 
Heaven,” Wang quoted. “ A question looks 
out from your eyes, Little Flower. Will you 
not speak? ” 

“ Oh, not now, Wang,” Buth answered 
hastily. “ Later, if I can have a little talk 
with you — ” 

“ The present is ours to command, but the 
future is veiled in darkness. Speak now, Little 
Flower, and have no fear.” 

44 Well, all right. I’ve been trying to tell 
you, Wang, how much Molly and Babs helped 
me. I cant tell you, really; there were so many 
little things that don’t sound like much, but 
that meant — oh, just everything! ” Her voice 
was very earnest, and she fixed imploring eyes 
upon her old friend. 44 You’ve settled my fu¬ 
ture for me, Wang. All my worries are cleared 
away; I’m going to do the thing I’ve always 
wanted most. But — well, don’t you think — ” 


220 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


“ Ruth, please! ” Molly leaned forward ap¬ 
prehensively. 

Wang smiled at her and held up his hand for 
silence. “You wish, Little Flower — ” he 
turned again to Ruth. “ Knowing your own 
future secure, you wish to make that of your 
friends secure also ? It is a noble thought. The 
pearls are yours to do with as you wish.” 

“ Wang, you darling! " Ruth turned a ra¬ 
diant face toward the sisters. “ You said one 
day, Babs, that you two had decided not to go 
to college if it meant a sacrifice to your mother. 
Now — you won’t have to worry about that 
any more. Maybe — oh, maybe you could 
come to Sinai College with me! They have 
wonderful courses in almost anything you want 
to study. Oh, I’d love that! We wouldn’t 
be separated for years and years. But, any¬ 
way, wherever you want to go, Wang’s pearls 
will take care of everything. If — ” 

“ Of course we’ll go to Sinai, Ruthie! ” Babs 
exclaimed eagerly. “ Won’t we, Sis? ” 

Molly hesitated. “ It’s dear of you, Ruth, 
but I don’t know — maybe Mumsy won’t want 
us to take such a big thing from you — ” 

Her voice sounded so distressed that Wang 





“ ONE FOR ALL! ” 


221 


hastened to reassure her. “ Have no fear, lit¬ 
tle one. The heart of your lady mother will ap¬ 
prove the offering of friendship. Of that I 
feel certain.” 

“ And so do I,” Ruth said. “ Especially 
when she knows that you earned it as much as I 
did. Oh, I’m so glad! ” She gave a heart¬ 
felt sigh of relief. “ I thought of this the min¬ 
ute I found the pearls, and I knew that all the 
joy of the whole thing would be taken out of it 
for me if I couldn’t do it. But I wasn’t sure at 
first that they were really mine, and I meant to 
talk it over with Granther before I said any¬ 
thing. And then Wang came, and I knew I’d 
have to ask him — though I might have known 
what he’d say, bless his generous old heart! Oh 
— why, where did he go? ” 

Wang had slipped quietly away, leaving the 
three girls alone in the pagoda. 

With eyes that were a little misty, Ruth drew 
her two friends to her. Silently she turned 
them about until they faced the painted wall. 
They had not opened the shutters, and the little 
pagoda was in shadow, but a beam of sunlight 
from the open door fell full upon the ‘ happi¬ 
ness ’ sign which covered the hidden shrine. 


222 THE CHINESE RIDDLE 


“ ‘ Wouldst thou find happiness?’” Ruth 
quoted very softly. “ Now, all together, 
girls! ” 

And clear and sweet on the summer air rose 
the fresh young voices. 

“ All for one — one for all! ” 




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